


Experimental Love

by Esky1118



Category: South Park
Genre: Awkward Flirting, Cute, Fluff, Fluff and Humor, High School, M/M, creek - Freeform, south park - Freeform
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2019-05-05
Updated: 2019-11-26
Packaged: 2020-02-26 13:50:30
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 10
Words: 31,969
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/18718345
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Esky1118/pseuds/Esky1118
Summary: Ever since the events of Craig x Tweek in the fourth grade, Tweek and Craig have been best friends. Now in high school, one day changes what they thought they knew about themselves, and each other.





	1. Panic and Coffee

**Author's Note:**

  * Inspired by [It Could Be Better](https://archiveofourown.org/works/15860307) by [allthestripes](https://archiveofourown.org/users/allthestripes/pseuds/allthestripes), [TriciasPiggies](https://archiveofourown.org/users/TriciasPiggies/pseuds/TriciasPiggies), [WrongDecision](https://archiveofourown.org/users/WrongDecision/pseuds/WrongDecision). 



> My first ever fan fiction! I'm so excited to share this! I was suggested It Could Be Better by a friend and was hooked! It also inspired me to write my own! So thank you to allthestripes, TriciasPiggies, and Wrong Decision for writing such an amazing story!
> 
> This is the first time I've tried writing something like this, so it is not going to be some amazing story. I hope you enjoy it though! I want to tell a story that will hopefully be as entertaining as the ones I've read so far. I don't expect to reach lots of people, but I do hope I can make one person smile. But also don't be afraid to give me criticisms! I'm always looking to improve, and would really appreciate any anyone has to offer!
> 
> It is a bit of a slow start, but trust me things will happen. I just don't want to rush it so it seems too unrealistic.
> 
> I'm not sure how often I'll be able to update, but I'll try to make some kind of schedule. I currently have completed 7 parts to this story and I'm not sure how long it'll actually be as of now, but hopefully I will as time goes on. Enough notes though, hope you enjoy!

 

Monday mornings; his least favorite day and time of the week. Monday mornings meant no sleeping in if he slept at all, school, and stress, lots of stress. He looked over at his clock, six o’clock. He would have to get up now or he’d worry about being late (even though he never was).

His phone buzzed, making him flinch a little. Even though it was the same text every morning sent at the same time, he couldn’t help but jump.

It was the same “good morning” text Craig sent every morning. Though he never said it, he really did appreciate that Craig took the time to send him a message every day. “Morning” he replied, smiling as he typed. “see u at the bus?” “Yep. See you there” and with that he put his phone on his nightstand and finally got out of bed.

He shivered when his feet touched the carpet. He'd always hated how it felt against his skin. He walked over to his dresser and pulled out the same green button up and jeans he wore every day. He tiredly pulled on the jeans, without much effort, but he always struggled with his shirt. His twitching made it difficult to button it correctly, and today was no different. He buttoned a few before giving up and heading out of his room.

As always, his parents had already left to open the shop, and Tweek was left to an empty house, except for the one thing he could depend on from them every morning; coffee. His parents always made coffee before going to work every morning.

And there it was, an almost full pot of coffee, about room temperature at this point. He grabbed a thermos and filled it until it was almost overflowing, putting it down onto the table behind him. He then proceeded to take the top off the coffee pot, and chug the rest of the remaining coffee. The temperature made it less than pleasant, but he desperately needed the caffeine.

After finishing, he felt much more awake and ready. He walked over to the sink and began to wash the kettle, as he did every morning, humming as he went. Unlike most kids his age, he actually enjoyed washing dishes, it was very relaxing. He made sure to clean it extra well this time since he drank straight from it instead of grabbing a mug like he normally did. He knew his parents probably wouldn’t be too pleased with him if they found out he had done that.

Tweek finishes drying off the pot, and puts it back where it belongs. He then grabs the thermos from behind him, and heads back upstairs to finish getting ready.

It’s about 7:00 when he heads out the door. He hadn’t spent all that time getting ready, but also doodling and cleaning up his room. He texts Craig, “Heading to the bus stop now” and immediately regrets it. _I don’t have to text him every little thing I do, it’ll just annoy him. I’m already so annoying as it is, what if this was it? What if he’s finally had enough of me? What i-_

His thoughts were interrupted by his phone buzzing in his hand, almost dropping it in the snow. “Gah!” he yelled juggling to keep his phone from hitting the ground.

When he finally caught it he saw it was a message from Craig. “k” What did it mean? Was he annoyed but would wait to confront him when he saw him? Tweek tried pushing those thoughts as far back in his mind as he could, and headed towards the bus stop.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Craig was almost ready to go. He had just replied to Tweek. He felt like he should have said something more, but he was in a bit of a rush. He was worried that he might make Tweek anxious with his reply, but that just made him move faster.

He rushed downstairs almost running into Tricia, who flipped him off sleepily but didn’t say anything. Craig ignored the gesture, but made a mental note to flip her off back later.

He ran to grab his bag, blue jacket and hat which he seemingly wore everyday from the couch. He did feel bad about leaving his stuff everywhere, but was focusing on leaving before he was late, well, late to talk to Tweek and eventually the rest of his friends at the bus stop.

He threw on the hat and jacket hastily, not bothering to button the jacket, and his hair sticking out messily from under the cap. He then threw on his bag and started towards the front door, “Hey”, a yell came from behind him, making him pause.

“I know you're in a rush, but aren't you forgetting something?” He turned to face his mother, standing with his lunch, a thermos, and a granola bar. She grabs his shoulders, turning him back around, putting his lunch and thermos in his bag, and zipping it closed.

He turned back around to say thanks, but she shoved the granola bar into his hands before he could even open his mouth. “Here. If you're not gonna eat breakfast at least eat this on the way” “Oh right, thanks mom”

“Just get to school” she said as she flipped him off and shooing him out the door. He returned the gesture and headed out the door. A bit of a rough start to the day, but how could it get worse right?

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Tweek was more anxious than normal, and could feel the other students stares as he twitched from his nerves. _What if he really is upset with me? What did I do? Will he stop talking to me? Does he not want to be my friend anymore??_ He became so lost in his panicked thoughts that he didn’t even notice Craig run up to meet him.

Craig was out of breath from running all the way from his house. “Hey Tweek, sorry I’m la-” Craig cut himself off when he saw Tweek. “Oh sh- Tweek?” he said lowly, trying not to startle the teen. _Why did I send that stupid text without a follow up?_ Craig held his arms out as if to grab Tweek’s shoulders, but not actually touching him. Tweek twitched hard at the mention of his name, and turned towards where the sound came from. Despite his panic and twitching, he was able to focus enough and was able to tell it was Craig.

“Tweek, are you ok?” he asked, his arms still outstretched. “I-I- Cr-aig..?” He questioned, his voice quivering, and the two made eye contact. Craig gave him a reassuring smile, “Yeah Tweek, it’s me.” He gently placed a hand on Tweek’s left shoulder, making Tweek flinch internally. He wasn’t used to and usually didn’t care much for physical contact, but other than the slight shock from it, for some reason, when it was Craig, it was different. It was okay.

When his nerves relaxed a bit, he took a deep breath, closing his eyes as he did so. While he did this, Craig’s smile grew stronger, as he relaxed now too. It was nice to see Tweek calm. Well, calm for Tweek.

After breathing out slowly, Tweek opened his eyes and looked back up at Craig (he had always been a bit taller than him it seemed), and feeling his cheeks warm when Craig asked, “You alright now?” “Oh, y-yeah. Sorry about that..” Tweek apologized, feeling guilty for freaking out. Of course Craig was just a bit late. Everything was ok, everything was always ok.

Craig raised an eyebrow to this, his hand still on Tweek’s shoulder, now grabbing a bit tighter, but not hard enough to hurt. “Why are you apologizing?” Tweek froze for a second. Why shouldn’t he apologize? He had probably stressed Craig out over nothing, and drawn attention to them both.  
“Oh, I uh.. I’m just s-sorry for freaking out over n-nothing. I need to stop doing that..” looking at the ground as he spoke. Craig’s smile from before faded into a concerned frown. “What?” his tone sounding almost annoyed, but not at Tweek, more at what he said, and how he hated how often he felt the need to apologize for that.

“Dude, you don’t need to apologize for that. You can’t help it” Tweek blushing more from embarrassment as he spoke, still not looking up. Craig’s frown now turning up into a smug grin “Just like how I can’t help flipping people off”

Tweek snorted after Craig finished, looking back up and pushing Craig’s arm off his shoulder. “You can help that if you wanted to, you’re just an asshole” chuckling as he finished. Craig looking stunned at his friend’s surprising boldness, and had to pause for a moment before responding,

“Well, you signed up to hang around this asshole a lot more when you asked me to get here early with you, so it’s your fault if you weren’t prepared to handle this” he said with a mocking tone, and pointing to himself.

Tweek laughed harder at this. “Well, maybe I’ll just ask Token, or even better, maybe Clyde to do this with me instead then” he stated in a slightly sarcastic tone, crossing his arms in front of his chest.

“Go ahead. Some more sleep in the mornings would be nice, and nobody calling me an asshole for something I can’t help” he retorted, closing his eyes and looking up at the sky in pretend annoyance. “Oh, so you’re saying you would be fine with me replacing you with Clyde, sounds good, why don’t I just te-” Craig reaches for Tweek’s phone, cutting him off.

“Hey!” Tweek exclaimed, smiling and trying to keep Craig from grabbing his phone. But Craig was too quick, grabbing Tweek’s phone and extending his arm over his head, out of Tweek’s reach. Tweek decides to give up after this, there’s no beating Craig when he uses his height over him.

Tweek turns away from Craig and pouts. Craig lowers his arm “Okay Tweek, you can replace me. I am an asshole after all” He turns back around and accepts his phone back from Craig. “You’re lucky I’m easy to forgive” he huffed, crossing his arms in front of him.

“Yup, so it looks like you’re stuck with me for awhile at least” Craig said grinning back at him. “Well, I guess I can put up with you, but no more phone snatching” “I promise” Craig said putting one hand on his heart, the other behind behind his back crossing his fingers, and still grinning.

Tweek noticed Craig’s hand behind his back, but just grinned back at him before asking, “Guess the others aren’t going to be here this morning?” Craig looked at Tweek, scratching his neck, “Either that or they’re gonna be so late they’ll miss the bus. It’ll be here any second now.” Tweek nodded in agreement.

Craig had almost forgotten Tweek had been upset earlier, and wondered what it was about, but decided not to ask yet, in case he might get upset again. They both just waited in silence along with the rest of the students, Tweek pulling out his phone to check the time and make sure he hadn’t missed any messages.

Craig pulled off his bag and took out the thermos. He unscrewed the cover and took a sip. It was surprisingly still pretty hot. He held it out to Tweek, who was still distracted with his phone. When he didn’t look up, Craig shrugged and took another sip before putting the cap back on, just as he turned to see the bus heading towards them.

“Bus is here” he said, hoping Tweek would hear him. Tweek looked up from his phone “What?” “The bus is almost here” “Oh right” he said, locking his phone and putting it in his pocket.

As the bus pulled closer, Tweek began to twitch a bit more. It wasn’t that he was really nervous of the bus, but the loud noises it made didn’t help. He was also still worried about if Craig’s text from this morning meant anything. While he was lost in thought, the bus came to a stop, and kids began boarding.

Craig looked over at Tweek. Craig could see he was thinking hard about something, and the expression on his face gave him the impression it wasn’t something nice.

“Tweek?” Craig’s voice interrupted his thoughts. Tweek jumped a little, turning to Craig. “Huh?” “Oh, sorry, uh, the bus is here, like for real” he said, pointing to the other students boarding. “Oh yeah, right, sorry” Tweek said, feeling his cheeks get warm again.

The two got in line behind the other kids. Craig made a mental note to ask Tweek later about what was bothering him, but for now he decided to focus on keeping him calm while they got to school. He hoped it wasn’t anything too bad, and that Tweek would actually let him help.

At the same time, Tweek was still feeling embarrassed about getting so worked up earlier, hoping Craig would just forget about it, as they made their way onto the bus.


	2. Concerns and Suspicions

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Two boys drinking coffee and talking about insecurities on the ride to school.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thank you so much for all the kudos! I really wasn't expecting much of a response, but within a few hours it did way better than I thought it would. Thanks again!
> 
> I'm still new to this website and how it works, but I'm doing my best to try and figure things out. Since I already have 7 parts completed I was thinking about posting once a week, but I also want to push myself to write more. I'm also really excited to get to the more interesting chapters. I might just push out a chapter a day until I run out of completed chapters/when the story reaches a certain chapter. 
> 
> The beginning chapters are honestly slow. I think chapter 4 is where things actually happen. I'm eager to just post it all right now, but I don't want to do that and then have nothing else for weeks after or something. 
> 
> Again, please let me know what you think and what you do/don't like so I can do my best to improve!
> 
> Thanks again everyone! Enjoy!

Craig makes his way to the back of the bus, Tweek trailing behind him, his eyes fixed on the ground. Craig stops and steps to his left upon reaching the back of the bus, waiting for Tweek to sit. Tweek, still looking at the ground, sits on the inside, pulling his backpack in front of him. Craig following, sitting next to him. 

Tweek looked out the window, fidgeting with one of the zippers on his backpack. Craig had always let Tweek take the window seat because he liked to stare out the window, and would often get lost in thought that way. He was fine with this and actually preferred the aisle, since it allowed him more leg room.

As usual, Tweek was quickly lost in thought staring out the window. He was thinking about the homework due today. He was going over everything in his head making sure he did everything he needed to He was also thinking about work. Everyday after school he went straight to work after getting off the bus. He was mostly thinking about these things to try and keep his mind off of the events of this morning, but no matter how hard he tried, the terrible thoughts kept creeping back.

Craig laid back into the cold, hard bus seat, eyes closed. And for a short minute, he relaxed. It had been a bit of a stressful morning. Between rushing out of the house, being late to meet Tweek, and Tweek’s panic attack. He took a deep breath, and opened his eyes, still leaned back, and glanced over at his friend.

Looking over, he was not surprised to see Tweek staring out the window. Knowing he wouldn’t be up for much conversation, Craig pulled out his phone and texted Clyde to try and figure out what happened to the rest of his friends.

‘Dude what happened to you guys this morning?’ Clyde responded almost immediately, as was no surprise to Craig. ‘token took forever to get ready and made us all late to catch the bus. so were walking’ he sent back with a frowning emoji. Craig rolled his eyes ‘Thats rough dude. Want me to tell the teacher so u guys dont get detention?’ ‘ya read my mind tucker’ Craig chuckled before responding, ‘You should know by now that mind reading is one of my abilities’ It took Clyde a bit longer to answer after that. ‘whatever dude mmy hands r freeezin ttyl’ and with that Craig turned off his phone, smiling thinking about his friends.

After reading Clyde’s last message, Craig looked back over at Tweek again, who was still distracted, but now his expression was less calm. Instead of his normal far off, but relaxed look, Tweek’s expression looked pained and worried, and his twitching was getting bad again too.

“Oh geez” Craig said to himself. He’d always felt powerless when Tweek got like this. What could he do to help when Tweek usually wouldn’t tell Craig what was bothering him? With a low, and calming voice, he asked “Tweek..?” getting no response, he tried again, this time a bit louder. “Tweek?”

Tweek was doing his best to fight off his panicked thoughts when his focus suddenly shifted back to his surroundings. Someone had called for him. He turned slowly, and saw Craig sitting next to him, his expression appearing concerned, but softening a little as Tweek turned to look at him.

“Huh?” Tweek said, trying to focus. “Dude, are you sure you’re alright? I know you have panic attacks and stuff, but this morning you seem a bit off.” Craig said, still looking concerned. “What? Yeah, of c-course I’m fine. Why wouldn’t I be, right?” Tweek responded, still twitching, but now looking at Craig. 

Craig sighed, “Look Tweek, I don’t mean to keep pushing, but there’s clearly something wrong. I’ve known you long enough to tell the difference between when you’re worried about things, versus when something’s actually bugging you” 

Tweek glanced around, still twitching, “Of course something’s wrong” he said, making Craig pause since it was very rare if Tweek let on about what was bothering him. “Something’s always wrong when it comes to me” he continued, meaning it. There was always something wrong, something bothering him, it was just how he was. But almost always whatever he was worried about didn’t matter, or wasn’t very significant. It wasn’t necessarily that something was really wrong, as there usually wasn’t. No, if anything, it was just that there was something wrong with him.

Upon hearing this, Craig’s surprise and hopefulness slowly melted, being replaced yet again with concern, and even some frustration. He hated that his friend felt like this. It was bad enough that he was told these sort of things from his classmates, and even his own parents, but actually believing it too..

“I’m sorry Craig. I honestly don’t know why you put up with me, or honestly, why anyone does” Tweek beginning to tear up slightly after finishing. He always felt bad about what he put others through. Everyone has problems. Why should I make other people deal with mine? Especially when they aren’t even important.

Craig’s hands curled into tight fists. Not that he was angry with Tweek, but more upset that his friend had these awful insecurities that seemed to often rule his life. “Tweek” he said sweetly, trying to sympathize with his friend “It’s honestly alright. I just want you to be more open about stuff that bothers you. It isn’t healthy to keep it bottled up, and I want to help, really, I do. Do you think I’d keep asking you if you were ok if I didn’t care?” he questioned, giving him a reassuring smile. 

Tweek thought about what he said for a minute. The things Craig said made sense, they always did. He knew that Craig was being sincere, but for some reason no matter how hard he wanted to and did believe that Craig was telling the truth, it was almost as if his mind had put up a huge mental block to truly keep him from believing it. 

It was a frustrating thing, which is one of the reasons why he would mostly keep to himself, but it would be so difficult for him to try and explain, so he decided to just try to convince Craig it was ok, something that wasn’t going to be easy now that he was suspicious.

Tweek looked back at Craig with a weak smile “Yeah, I know. And I do appreciate that you care, don’t think for a second I don’t. I’m sorry if I really worried you today, I honestly just think I didn’t get enough coffee this morning, so it’s made me feel a bit off” 

Craig didn’t want to think his friend was telling him anything but the truth, but this was clearly a lie, and they both knew it. His smile had now fallen back to his normal expression, but he still wasn’t satisfied with this. He knew he wasn’t going to get anywhere by pressing more, at least for now, so he decided to drop it.

He crossed his arms in front of him, looking down at his shoes, “Well, ok. I really don’t think that’s it, but if you’re sure..” looking back up and waiting for a response from Tweek. Tweek nodded his head slowly. “If you’re sure it’s just not enough coffee, I always bring a thermos of some. So you can have some of that.” he continued, unzipping, and reaching into his bag to find his thermos.

Tweek reached for his own bag “Oh! No, it’s ok! I’ve started packing my own now. I got the idea from you. I honestly don’t know why I didn’t do it sooner.” He pulled out his own thermos to show Craig, beaming with excitement and pride.

Craig stopped and looked back at his friend and gave him a small smile before putting his own thermos back in his bag “Well, that’s good. Now you can bring what you like instead of having to drink the crappy stuff I like”

Tweek smiled back and rolled his eyes slightly, taking the cover off his thermos and having a sip before putting it back. He looked back out the window and frowned. “We’re here already?” he sighed, not ready to get off and go to school.

Craig looked over the blonde’s head out the window and the disappointment on his face was obvious. “Guess so. Well, at least it’s just english first. Hopefully the guys will get here on time”

“Yeah” Tweek replied “Hopefully..” looking back out the window. The day had barely even begun and he was already wishing it was over. He just needed to make it through the day, and then he could go to work, and then go home.

The bus pulled into the driveway, and students began standing up to get off before it even came to a complete stop. Craig sighed and got up too, stretching his arms over his head, and even giving a yawn. 

Tweek stood up as well, almost falling and landing back on his butt. The other kids started clearing out, and Craig was able to take a step forward, allowing Tweek to step out into the aisle behind Craig. Another Monday morning was about to begin. Hopefully they were ready for it.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I don't think they are ready! They have no idea what's coming! All I can say is that this Monday will be a day that changes a lot about what they know and do from now on. Please let me know what you did/didn't like and how you think I can improve. Thanks so much for reading and for any comments/kudos. You're all so sweet! 
> 
> I really hope you enjoyed. Our boys will be back soon!


	3. Locker Talks and Namecalling

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> More coffee and getting ready for the school day, with some light conversation.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hello! I've decided to post a chapter a day until tomorrow. After that I'll have to space them out or I'll definitely run out of material to post! Sorry today's chapter was so short. Trust me tomorrow's is much longer. I originally had chapter 3 and 4 count as parts of chapter 4, but I think they'll just be their own despite how short chapter 3 is. I was also going to just put them together as one, but I like it this way a bit better. 
> 
> Chapter 4 is coming and is where things will change! I'm excited to see what you think! Also while writing these chapters up until the more recent ones, I didn't have much of a "set plan". Especially in chapter 4, I just started writing and came up with ideas on the spot. So I'm not sure if that makes things better or worse? Anyways! On to the chapter!

The two boys pushed their way through the doors and crowd of other kids, and made their way to their lockers. Because they were in the same grade and had close last names, their lockers were conveniently next to one another’s. Craig opened his locker, then unzipped his backpack and took out some of his things that he wouldn’t need until the second half of the day. No sense in carrying them around all day, especially since that stupid history textbook was so heavy.

Tweek begins to go through his mental checklist for each class and what he needs. Everything thankfully appears to be in order, and he breathes a sigh of relief. Everything is ready for the day, and there’s still like another five minutes before they’d have to go to class. 

Usually he would be thrilled he had more time to talk to Craig before class, but after his outbursts from this morning, he felt less enthusiastic. So he stood leaning against his locker, backpack on the ground next to him, and sipping his coffee.

Craig finishes putting everything away, and turns to look at Tweek. The blonde teen is clearly uncomfortable, but he’s always on edge at school. Craig takes out his phone to check the time. 7:26, he still had a few more minutes before class started, so he tried to start a conversation with Tweek.

“God, I’m not ready for another Monday, how about you?” Craig said with a sigh, looking over at his friend. “Oh, yeah, me neither. I hate Mondays” Tweek agreed, taking another sip from his thermos and looking back down at the ground again.

Craig frowned, still worried about Tweek. But tried not to let it show, as it may make things worse. That and he wasn’t known to be a very emotional person, so it would seem out of character for him. “How’s the coffee?” He asked, trying to think of something to talk about. “Oh, it’s okay. Kinda room temperature at this point, but I just need it for the caffeine.” He replied looking down at the thermos in his hands. 

Craig held out his own thermos to Tweek, who looked up at the movement, “Well here. I don’t know that you’d like it, but it’s at least still pretty hot” Tweek smiled, but shook his head politely, and looked back down at his thermos “No thanks Craig. I appreciate the offer, but I’m fine with this” shaking his thermos. “Plus that’s yours. You can usually use the caffeine in the morning too” he smirked.

Craig smirked back, bringing his free hand to his chest as he pretended to look defeated “Ya got me good Tweek Tweak. I’m a lazy slug in the morning without coffee.” “Not an asshole?” Tweek chuckled. “Nah, I’m always an asshole, with or without coffee, any time of day, any day of the week, an-” still smiling, Tweek stepped towards Craig, giving him a light push, cutting him off.

“Alright, I get it, you’re an ass” he said sounding slightly annoyed although he wasn’t really. “Nope not an ass, an asshole. If you’re gonna call me names, do it right.” he corrected, unable to keep a keep a straight face any longer, and he burst out laughing, Tweek joining him. The two of them standing at their lockers, laughing together, and for a moment, Tweek felt completely at ease. He was happy, Craig was here and he was happy too. They were both happy together. Maybe, just maybe, Craig did care, mayb-

Suddenly the loud slamming sounds of lockers brought him back to reality. Tweek jumped at the noise, “Ahh!” he grabbed at his hair in response. The sudden noise startled Craig too, but not as badly as it did Tweek. Tweek was also twitching again. How long had he not been twitching for? Craig had noticed that the more relaxed Tweek was, the less he twitched. It was a rare thing for him to completely stop twitching at school, but that moment they were joking, and laughing, he seemed so calm, so happy. Craig internally cursed everyone that had slammed their lockers, and disrupting Tweek’s calm.

Craig took a step towards Tweek “Welp, guess it’s time for class. We should probably get there before the bell to make sure our friends don’t get in trouble for being late.” he shrugged. Tweek nodded, taking his hands from his hair slowly. Both boys shut their lockers, and they turned to head to class.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Poor Tweek! He's still convinced Craig doesn't actually like him very much or is upset with him. Craig on the other hand is worried about what's bugging him. Don't worry, they'll definitely talk about this later! I hope you're excited for the next chapter! This is where the story really starts!


	4. Flushed Faces

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Awkward teens get more awkward.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Alright! This is it! This is the chapter that sets up the story more than the other chapters. I'm so excited to share this one and the ones following! I finished chapter 8 today. I know I've been posting daily, but I doubt I'll be able to keep it up. I'll try to do once a week or so after this so I don't run out of stuff to post. Maybe I'll do more than one a week if I find the motivation to write more :p 
> 
> Hope you guys enjoy though! Let me know what you think! I really enjoy reading and responding to your lovely comments. Thanks again for the comments and kudos! You guys are so sweet! Enjoy!
> 
> I also haven't really said it just yet, but there will be swearing because they're teen boys and it's South Park. But stronger language is used in this chapter.

Craig led the way, with Tweek right behind him. Tweek was looking down at the ground trying to relax again. Honestly there wasn’t much of a point in it. Now that he was in school, which had basically started, he wouldn’t be able to relax at least until lunch if he even could then.

 

They reached their first class right as the first bell went off. Tweek, already jumpy, was startled again, “Gah!” he yelled, quickly covering his mouth with his hands. His cheeks turning red when he got some stares from students already sitting down. Craig jumped a bit himself from Tweek’s yell behind him. He noticed the stares coming from some students and flipped them off quickly before their teacher saw.

 

“Hey Ms. S” Craig addressing the small young woman. “Good morning Mr. Tucker and Tweak” she said with a small smile. Tweek gave a shy wave but said nothing, Craig nodding his head in acknowledgement. “Uh, Token, and Clyde are going to be a bit late today” Craig rubbed his neck, avoiding eye contact, Tweek still standing right behind him looking at Craig a bit confused.

 

“Oh?” the woman raised an eyebrow questioningly. “Yeah, they had to walk, but they wanted you to know they’ll be here, they’re just going to be a little late” his cheeks beginning to warm as he spoke, realizing how stupid he must have sounded to her. She’d already explained that if students were to come in late, they’d need a pass. Otherwise they’d receive detention. She knew kids would try to help cover their friends and had had enough of it. “Well thank you Mr. Tucker, you may take your seat now” gesturing towards their desks

 

Craig, cheeks growing redder, nods “Sorry” and walks past her towards his seat, Tweek following right behind.   _How could I have forgotten that stupid rule? And why didn’t Clyde remind me either?_ Craig scolded himself. Tweek was startled at his friend’s reaction. The stoic Craig Tucker embarrassed? It was so uncharacteristic of him to show any sign of weakness, embarrassment, or even emotion. _It’s kinda funny_ Tweek thought to himself. _Almost c-_

 

Tweek startled himself with his own thoughts. Not that that hadn’t happened before, but not like that. He wondered where that weird thought came from, and how it disappeared so quickly. _It’s not that, it’s just- not very like Craig is all.. right..?_

 

Tweek was still confused with whatever that thought was.  But he decided to forget about it for now, because he had a rare opportunity, and he was going to take it.

 

The two sit down. Craig sitting on the seat closer to the wall, Tweek on the aisle this time. Once he had plopped himself down, Craig immediately lowered his head to the table. It felt cool against his warm skin. He was trying to cool down his face while also hiding the shame he felt. Tweek watches him for a moment to see if he’s going to sit back up. When it seems like he isn’t going to right away, he reaches down into his bag and grabs a pencil, grinning.

 

Craig’s head is still on the table, his eyes closed, breathing slowly. He’s trying to relax so his face will return to it’s normal shade of pale white. He knew and accepted that he was pale, not that he really cared. But when things like this happened, it made it difficult to hide. He never even suspected Tweek was up to something.

 

Tweek slowly and carefully, using the eraser side, gently pokes Craig in his side. Craig flinches from the poke, but says nothing. Tweek, a now determined look on his face was not satisfied. He pokes Craig again, in the same spot, this time a bit harder. This time he gets a small noise he’s never heard come from Craig before. This makes him pause for a minute, trying to hold in his laughter, before he goes in to poke him again.

 

Craig had a feeling Tweek was going to mess with him. He was vulnerable right now, why wouldn’t he? He groaned feeling another poke at his side. It wasn’t that it hurt or was too annoying. He just didn’t think Tweek was being fair making fun of him while he felt helpless like this. He turned his head without lifting it off the desk completely, so that he could now more clearly see Tweek, and more importantly, the pencil. He eyed it carefully, still flinching everytime it poked him, as Tweek kept poking harder.

 

Craig watched as Tweek poked him almost rhythmically. He waited for the right moment to- suddenly Craig reaches out and grabs the pencil before it reaches his side again. Still grabbing the pencil, he now sits up and faces Tweek, his face (thankfully) no longer flushed. “Can I help you?” he asks with a cautioning tone.

 

When he had grabbed the pencil Tweek let out a squeaking noise in surprise. It had also surprised not only Craig but Tweek as well, who now was beginning to blush himself. “Oh, I uh, was j-just making sure you, uh, w-weren’t dead..” he stammered, cheeks getting redder. This was a nightmare. He had been poking fun at Craig who had been embarrassed. But now Craig had turned it around so it was Tweek who was embarrassed. What made it even worse was realizing that he was blushing just made the problem worse. So it seemed Tweek was trapped in a never ending cycle of blushing.

 

Why was he blushing so badly? He knew getting embarrassed could lead to it, but he’d never blushed this much from minor embarrassment. It also didn’t help that they were drawing the attention of their classmates. Some even whispering and pointing at them, making Tweek blush harder. Oh god when would it end?

 

Craig tried, but Tweek’s face and just the situation in general were too much for him, and he started laughing. He wasn’t sure why he found it so funny, but he did, Tweek joining him after a moment. The two were laughing together again, and it was nice.

 

Tweek had forgotten they were in class, forgot about the stares, his worries, and was just enjoying this moment with Craig. Craig too was enjoying himself. _This has been a strange morning.._ He thought to himself while still laughing. _Being late to see Tweek, Tweek being off, and now for the second time we’re laughing without a care. It’s so nice to see him like this. It makes me happy._

 

Normally that sort of thought would be brushed aside, most likely Craig would have just forgotten it. But for some reason that last thought rang through his head over and over. But why? Isn’t it a normal thing to want your friends to be happy? He couldn’t stop thinking about it. He focused so much on it that he stopped laughing, and even smiling, to which Tweek did the same.

 

Tweek looked at him confused and concerned. _Craig is acting weird. Weirder than normal. Guess we’re both having an off day._ He shrugged, but looked back at Craig who was seemingly lost in thought. Which is something Tweek often struggled with, so it was strange to see it from the other perspective.

 

Tweek wasn’t sure what to do. Class was about to start, and he didn’t know how to get Craig to come back, if he even could. _Gah! How does Craig do it? How is he able to get me to snap out of it?_ Now Tweek was starting to drift too. Luckily for both of them the second bell went off, bringing them both out of their heads.

 

“Wha-what happened? Tweek?” Craig snapped out of it, and turned to look at his friend. Usually when the bells went off, Tweek was paying attention. But when he isn’t, sometimes he can get so startled it can cause a minor panic attack, which Craig was well aware of.

 

Without thinking, Craig reached for Tweek’s left hand. He grabbed it, and squeezed it a little. He did this so quickly that it barely registered with him what he did until after he already had Tweek’s hand in his own. Craig looked down at their hands locked together, then up at the front of the room and froze. _What the fuck just happened?_

 

The sudden loud ringing of the first bell interrupted Tweek’s thoughts and made him jump and start twitching. He couldn’t focus, he was confused and didn’t know what was going on. He was freaking out until- he felt something grab his hand. He flinched, but whatever it was wasn’t letting go. Normally this would have made things much worse, but, for some reason, whatever was grabbing him was helping.

 

Tweek began breathing slower and he could make out where he was now. He was in English class, which had just started. Thankfully his panic was silent, so nobody was staring at them. _Wait them? Who is the-_ _HOLY SHIT_

 

Tweek turned his head to see Craig, which wasn’t what made him freak out initially, but what he saw when he looked at his hand. Now that he was calmer, he wanted to see what had grabbed him and gotten him to that point. That was what freaked him out.

 

Tweek looked back up at Craig, who was staring straight ahead, seemingly frozen as well. _Ok, what the hell just happened..? Why are Craig and I holding hands? And why aren’t either of us trying to let go..?_

 

Tweek looked down at their hands again. While he was a bit weirded out and worried about what his classmates might think, he didn’t try and get his hand free. It may seem weird, but the feeling was familiar; comforting. They hadn’t held hands since the fourth grade, when they pretended to be a gay couple to appease the town.

 

Back then it was weird, but he had gotten used to it because he had felt like he had to, but now.. There was nobody forcing them to hold hands, they just were, and for some reason, Tweek was ok with that. In the past when they were “together” in fourth grade, Craig honestly cared for him almost like how a boyfriend would, and he was always so good at calming Tweek down.

 

It seems that after all those years, he still manages to do it, even in unforeseen (by them both) ways. Craig was still staring straight ahead, his hand still holding Tweek’s. He was so confused. _What the fuck did I do? Why did I grab his fucking hand? We already told everyone we aren’t gay after officially breaking up, and I’m not, so what, and why? And wait- is Tweek ok?_

 

Craig blinked hard and appeared to be able to move again, slowly turning his neck to face Tweek. The blonde was staring down at their hands, seeming to be frozen too, but he also hadn’t let go yet. Craig studied his face. His expression was focused, yet seemed far off, relaxed, yet tense. He seemed calm enough, because his twitching wasn’t very bad, but Craig was unsure of what to think about that expression.

 

Craig decided to just keep holding Tweek’s hand until he decided to let go, or he would hold it all class if Tweek really wanted. Whatever he needed to feel better. _Right, it’s just to help Tweek feel more relaxed, nothing more. I could let go right now if I wanted to… but.. I won’t, because… because Tweek needs it_ he convinced himself.

 

Craig closed his eyes and shook his head to try and help himself focus, and turned his attention to his teacher up front, who had been talking the entire time. How much had he missed? He frowned, worried he might have missed some important things, and he’d have to fill in Clyde and Token if they decided to show up. Thankfully he was left handed, so he could still take notes despite the fact that his other hand was, shall we say, unavailable.

 

Tweek was still staring at their hands locked together, he was so confused. What did this mean? Did it mean anything? Did it mean everything? Was it important or not? Well, whatever the answers to the new hundred questions he now had, he needed to focus on class the best he could. He had noticed Craig look over at him, but was still trying to free himself from his thoughts, so he had remained staring at their hands.

 

But now, he looked up. He saw their teacher, lecturing about something. They sat in the back, so it was difficult to hear already, but Tweek wasn’t trying to listen. He was simply trying to pretend as though he were, so he wouldn't get in trouble. He wasn’t too worried about what he was missing. It was just one class. Besides, it looked like Craig was taking notes anyways, he could probably fill him in later.

 

Craig noticed out of the corner of his eye Tweek look up. But he didn’t turn his head because they had already drawn enough attention that the teacher was glaring at them. Not that either of them had really noticed until this point. Although they both noticed that their hands were still together, neither one daring to be the first to pull his hand away however. Luckily being at the back of the room, nobody was able to see them holding hands, so they felt safe for now.

 

When the teacher turned away to face the board, Craig was able to get a look at the clock. _What the hell? Somehow we only have like 10 minutes left? Were we really out of it for that long?_ He questioned worriedly. His worries were interrupted by his teacher “..And that’s why you can have the rest of the period to yourselves. Stay in the room, don’t get too loud, and in general just behave” she stated exhaustedly.

 

Craig sighed in relief. It was always nice when teachers gave them free time, and honestly, the two of them needed that time this morning. He turned to face Tweek who was still staring forward, not seeming to react to the teacher’s words. Craig squeezed Tweek’s hand a bit to see if he could get his attention.

 

Tweek was trying his hardest not to freak out. His face was so warm again, he was sure he’d have to stick his head into the snow in order to fix it. Suddenly he felt something tighten around his hand. Not so much that it hurt, but it was enough to calm him down enough to realize what was going on. He shook his head slightly, eyes closed. He then opened them again and turned slowly towards Craig.

 

Yet again Craig’s cheeks were burning red, and the expression on his face was a mixture of nervous and concern. “T-Tweek?” he whispered, his voice weak from nerves and embarrassment. He wanted to hit something. He was so frustrated with himself. What was wrong with him? _We broke up years ago, we’re not gay, neither of us are. Not that there’s anything wrong with being gay, I’m just not gay.._ He started searching his thoughts for an explanation as to why he would grab his best friend’s hand like that.

 

Tweek studied his friend with curiosity. His face was a red as his own, and he looked like he was struggling to say something. Without thinking, Tweek squeezed Craig’s hand tighter, and smiled at him reassuringly, despite how much this made him panic internally. When Craig had done the same to him, it had worked. So he hoped it would have the same affect.

 

Much to his surprise but delight, it seemed to work. Craig felt Tweek’s grip tighten, but it was not painful, but instead almost more comforting than anything else. He breathed out and relaxed enough to try to say something, his face still bright red. “Tweek..?” he asked with more confidence in his voice.

 

Tweek still smiling, but pleasantly surprised he found his voice again responded “Yeah Craig?” somehow without stuttering or much hesitation in his voice. Tweek felt himself relaxing a bit from before, his cheeks cooling down as well from the initial shock. Tweek’s calmness almost made it worse for poor Craig. _How the hell is he so calm?_ “Uh, y-you alright..? He managed to get out.

 

Tweek looked at his poor blushing friend, giggling at his question before responding “Maybe I should be the one asking you, Mr. Tomato” he giggled. Craig felt his face get even warmer somehow, and gave Tweek an annoyed but desperate look. _Come on Tweek, this isn’t fair_ he complained to himself. _I’ll find a way to get even with him later somehow.._

 

Through his giggling, Tweek’s grip on Craig’s hand loosened. Craig seized this opportunity to release his hand. After it was freed, he pulled his hat down, covering his eyes, then leaned back in his chair crossing his arms in front of him, defeated.

 

The movement startled Tweek, who stopped laughing as a result. He looked over at Craig, who was seemingly trying to hide, and felt the calmness and joy flow out of him, being replaced yet again with his insecurities and now guilt.

 

He hoped Craig didn’t hate him for teasing, but he also wondered why Craig had grabbed his hand in the first place. And why not only Craig, but himself as well did not let go when they realized what had happened.

 

Honestly, what the fuck was going on with today? They had experienced similar scenarios and days of Tweek’s panics and each of them could take teasing and joking from the other; but today was somehow different..

 

The two sat in silence now. Craig trying his best to calm himself down so his face would go back to it’s normal, pale self. Tweek was also trying to calm himself down. He could see out of the corners of his eyes that some students in front of them appeared to be staring.

 

Tweek knows that this class is ending soon, so he pulls out his phone to check the time. He was right. There was only about two minutes before the bell went off. Tweek was thankful that for the first time that morning, he felt prepared and would hopefully not be so startled this time.

 

Tweek put his phone down, and looked back over at Craig. He wanted to warn his friend that the period was ending, but was worried that Craig really was upset with him. He was left unsure what to do, but decided he needed to do something. “Uh.. C-Craig..?” he mumbled. He got a muffled “Huh?” from Craig, who didn’t move upon hearing his name. “Um, class is about t-to end. Uh, you should probably get ready to go” he continued, beginning to get his things together.

 

Craig heard what he said, and stayed still for a moment before lifting his hat off his face. He simply turns to pick up his things and put them into his bag, not saying a word, still embarrassed. But closer to his unnatural, natural shade.

 

Tweek finished putting away his things and stared at the clock at the front of the classroom, anticipating the bell that would ring any second now, while Craig zipped his bag shut. Craig looked down at the desk, his backpack zipped up and now on his lap. How was he going to explain this? He didn’t have an explanation, not even for himself.

 

While he was wondering about what to do, the bell for the end of first period rang, and all the students in class including Tweek stood up and walked out. Tweek was one of the first out of the class, while Craig took his time, being the last one out. Obviously they each didn’t know what to say to the other. Hopefully they could use this next class to think of what to say before they were alone together again.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Aw! Our poor awkward boys! Hope you enjoyed! Not sure when the next chapter will be up, but probably after complete the next one. Please let me know your thoughts! I always appreciate them!


	5. Distracted

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Tweek and Craig struggle to focus during class.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hello! Thank you so much for all the feedback! I look forward to every post because of them! I'm so happy you seem to enjoy the story. I don't have a specific ending in mind as of now, so I'm not completely sure how long this will be. I'm currently on chapter 9, and it's still during the school day. If you have any ideas let me know because I may be willing to implement some things through suggestion. If you don't like the idea though, I'll just keep writing how I have been.
> 
> I think I'm going to post weekly on Saturdays so I stay on top of writing. I'm also currently thinking of writing either some customer service one offs based on my own experiences but using Tweek (mostly because I felt like him in those situations) but also another Creek fic that centers around Tweek having a part-time job at a pet store. Let me know what you think about those ideas. I'll probably try to finish this first, but I may try to post a chapter or two of the others to see how you guys feel about them. 
> 
> Thanks again for reading! Enjoy the chapter!

Tweek sped to class as fast as his legs would carry him. _What the hell was going on with him?_ First the little incident/panic attack at the bus stop, the nice moment at their lockers, then Craig being embarrassed for some reason, to the two of them holding hands. What. A. Day.  
  
He didn't want to think too much about it, he just wanted to get to class before he was late. He arrived on time, noticeably still red faced and stressed. He rushes to his seat, avoiding making eye contact with his teacher, or anyone else for that matter.

 

Upon arriving at his seat, he immediately plops down. He leans forward so quickly he nearly bangs his head against the table. Like Craig had been earlier, he was trying to mask the clear embarrassment all over his face. _Seriously, what the hell is going on today?_ he found himself asking the same question for about the hundredth time since he had woken up this morning. He was so distracted between trying to calm himself down and his twitching that he didn’t notice when Jimmy sat down next to him.

 

Jimmy was one of the boys Tweek had gotten to know better by hanging out with Craig. He was part of a group that Clyde, Token, Craig, and Tweek were a part of; Tweek being the newest addition. Even the noise of Jimmy’s crutches against the floor weren’t enough to get Tweek’s attention.

 

Jimmy didn’t take any offense to Tweek not greeting him. He understood that the teen often got distracted or panicked so greatly that he would be sucked far into his own head. Jimmy pulls out his notebook and a pen and writes the date at the top, anticipating the notes they’d be taking. Neither still has said a word to the other, Jimmy finally looking over at Tweek for a moment before breaking the silence. “G-good morning T-Twee.. Tweek”

 

Tweek heard someone say his name which startled him and made him panic for a moment. _Oh God! Where did that come from? Was it the teacher? Or maybe someone out to get him?_ These thoughts ran through his head as he twitched hard, turning towards the voice. “Oh. H-hi Jimmy” he mumbled, head turned towards Jimmy now, but still on the table.

 

“D-dude, you alr.. alri- alr.. Ok?” Jimmy questioned, looking concerned. Tweek still not lifting his head off the table gives him a nod. “I’m just having an off morning. Probably just not enough coffee” he felt bad lying to his friend like that, but he didn’t really know how to explain everything and was still trying to wrap his own head around it all.

 

“Ok. Hope you f-feel b-better dude.” he replied, still concerned, but turning his attention to their teacher at the front of the room. Class was about to start, so Tweek checked the clock at the front of the room and braced himself when he realized the bell was about to go off. He realized he probably should have asked Jimmy about why they were so late when it doesn’t take long to walk to school but decided against it. He could hardly think straight, and they wouldn’t be able to talk for very long anyways.

 

The bell went off, and thankfully Tweek was prepared enough that all he did in response was flinch slightly. He hated loud noises, even if he knew they were coming. After the bell stopped ringing he sat up in his seat, and like last class only pretended to be paying attention as to not get in trouble. He was tired from worrying himself and the panic attack from earlier. And despite the fact that he knew later he’d regret it, at the moment he couldn’t focus, and didn’t want to either for that matter.

 

He hoped Jimmy wouldn’t ask him about it again, but based on the concerned look he had given him, he was sure it would be brought up again later, either with him, or with their other friends.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

 

Craig made his way to Spanish with no intention on getting there early as he normally did. He assumed that since Token wasn’t there first period, there wasn’t going to be anyone to talk to right away. So why bother hurrying if there wasn’t much of a point.

 

He walked along looking at the ground, hands in his pockets. He wasn’t paying much attention to his surroundings other than making sure he didn’t run into anyone. His mind was still distracted and confused by what had happened last period. He was trying his best to come up with an explanation for why it happened. Not only because Tweek deserved one, but because he needed it for himself too.

 

 _There has to be some logical explanation as to why that happened, right? It’s not because we’re… gay… we never were even when we were forced to pretend to. We weren’t back then and aren’t now._ He finished this thought as he reached the classroom, with about a minute to spare.

 

He kept his gaze focused on the ground as he walked back to his seat, earning him a few stares. It wasn’t very like him to come to class this late, alone, and staring at the ground. He didn’t seem to notice them staring, or even Token who was sitting in the seat next to Craig’s.  
  
Token had tried giving Craig a wave when he saw him walk in. But after taking a second to look closer at his friend, he stopped waving, hand in mid-air, a worried expression now finding its way onto his face.

 

Craig sat down in his seat almost automatically, or without much thought. He leaned against the hard, back of his chair and breathed out, looking at the ceiling, still thinking.

 

Token looked over at his friend, tilting his head in confusion and concern before addressing him, “Uh, morning Craig” Craig, without moving or putting much thought into it replied “Morning” almost reflexively.

 

Token’s expression of concern now melted into more of an annoyance as he tried to reach his friend. “Dude, what’s up?” “Hmm?” Craig still not really paying attention. “Craig, what’s going on man? You walked in here looking all sad and out of it, and now you aren’t gonna talk to me, or even look at me?” his tone growing a bit frustrated as he went.

 

Craig finally decided he needed to snap out of it a bit. While he recognized that Token was sitting next to him, it didn’t register with him that he could see everything that he was (or was not) doing. And he also realized that he and his friends had known each other long enough to pick up on different behaviors. They’d all gotten so good at it, that they could usually predict what was making them act that way. Although that mostly applied to Clyde. They could all read him like a book. Not that it was very difficult to since he would often just come right out and say what was wrong.

 

Craig on the other hand usually never let things get to him enough that he acted differently. He was good at keeping things to himself, and didn’t like people seeing him upset or affected by anything. So without trying to overdo it and really give himself away, he tried to play it off the best he could.

 

“Oh, yeah, uh, I was just up late last night with homework ya know? Not much sleep is just getting to me I think.” he lied while sitting up straight and pulling his chair in closer. He hated lying to his friends. But he wasn’t sure that Tweek would be happy with him saying anything about what happened before they at least talked about it first. He also wasn’t sure he wanted to say anything for his own sake too.

 

Token glared at him for a moment, making Craig return the same stare. He hoped Token wouldn’t see through him. “Craig, are you lying to me?” he asked, still sounding a bit annoyed, but there was also a presence of curiosity and again, concern.

 

 _Shit. He caught me_. Craig, unable to hide the slight shock on his face from being caught was confirmation enough for Token, who frowned back at him. “Knew that was bullshit. You were bragging to us on Friday how you had no homework for once while the rest of us had a lot. That and it being the weekend, you would have finished either Friday or Saturday night if you were going to stay up late.”

 

Craig leaned forward, his elbows on the desk as he rested his face in his hands, but not before flipping off his friend “Dick” he stated simply, not really meaning it. “You’re the dick dude, trying to lie to me like that. But what for?” he answered, flipping his friend off in response.

 

Craig was about to respond, when the bell cut them both off, Craig thankful for it. He lifted his hands off his face, and reached down for a notebook and pencil. It seemed like every day they took notes, so he was sure today wouldn’t be any different.

 

Token looked at him frustrated but doing the same. He leaned over and whispered quietly “Don’t you think for a second we’re done with this conversation” Craig ignoring him and staring up at his teacher in the front.

 

While he was a bit annoyed at Token for catching him in his lie, he couldn’t be too upset with him. Anyone else, including Craig would have done the same for any of them. He made a silent plan to get out of the class as fast as possible so he wouldn’t have to talk to Token until biology.

However when making this plan, he realized what next period was and frowned. Math. Not that he was _completely_ terrible at the subject (though it definitely was far from his favorite). No, the real reason why he began to frown was because he realized it was another class in which Tweek and himself would be alone in. Not only that, but again sitting right next to each other.

 

They were going to have to see each other again soon, whether they wanted to or not. Craig tried to ignore that fact and worked himself to try and come up with an explanation for what happened as he had been trying to earlier. He just hoped he could find one, and that it would be acceptable enough. Tweek didn’t deserve anything less.

 

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

 

About halfway through class Tweek had actually started paying attention to what his teacher was saying. He didn’t want to have to rely on all his friends to get notes for the day. That would really raise suspicions, seeing as he almost always took way more notes than he needed to, just to be safe.

 

Jimmy occasionally would glance over at Tweek, trying to read his expressions, body language, and anything else he could use to figure out what was going on. He knew that Tweek had lied earlier. But also knew that he didn’t ever do so without a reason. That is why he decided to drop the subject earlier in case it was something Tweek really didn’t want to talk about.

 

While their teacher’s back was turned to them, Jimmy quickly pulled out his phone to text Clyde about what was going on. ‘Hey dude, something’s up with Tweek today, and I mean more so than usual, but he won’t talk to me about it.’ almost immediately a worried text came through from Clyde. The response didn’t take long since he was in art which was basically a free period where you could draw, or paint, or even make things out of clay.

 

‘IS HE OK??’ was the response. Before Jimmy even had a chance to start typing back Clyde followed up from his first message ‘damn caps lock. but im still worried about tweek. whats going on? how much different is he today?’ the longer message read.

 

Jimmy almost chuckled out loud, and nearly giving himself away and typed back ‘Firstly there’s no way that you didn’t mean that first text. Ur screen is kinda broken near the caps lock, so you have to go out of your way to turn it on or off. About Tweek though, he’s twitching kinda bad, like worse than normal. He seems even more on edge if that’s possible, and when I asked him what was wrong he told me an obvious lie’

 

Clyde’s first response was a middle finger emoji, clearly showing he was frustrated with the teasing. ‘wait, he lied to you? thats very unlike him. maybe we should ask craig, he’s usually pretty good at figuring out things when it comes to tweek. maybe something happened this morning?’

 

‘Idk dude, but that’s not a bad idea, we could also ask Token to talk to him before class is over’ ‘cool. ill shoot him a text, YOU need to get back to paying attention’ Jimmy sent him a thumbs up emoji in both agreement and approval and looked back up to see the class was already almost over.

 

Tweek also noticed the end of the period was approaching, and as such, started packing up his things which isn’t something he normally did. He would usually wait a bit longer as not to be rude to the teacher and the rest of his fellow classmates. But today he needed to get out quickly so Jimmy wouldn’t have time to try to talk to him again.

 

Their teacher was finishing up the lecture, and when it was finished, they had only about a minute before the bell rang, making Tweek anxious that even with only a minute left Jimmy would say something. Much to his relief, Jimmy was too focused on getting his things ready to move to the next class.

 

Tweek now had his backpack slung over his shoulder, anticipating the bell ringing, and ready to try and be first out of the classroom, or as close to being first as he could get. When the bell finally rang Tweek stood up without a word, and rushed out the door as fast as he could go without actually running.

 

Jimmy still was zipping his bag and starting to stand up, watching Tweek disappear out of the classroom. Frustrated he hadn’t been able to say anything else, he picked up his bag and crutches, and walked out of the room, heading to his next class.

 

Tweek on the other hand wasn’t heading straight for math, but instead made a pit stop at the bathroom closest to his next class. He locked himself in a stall to avoid others and seem less suspicious instead of standing there. _I don’t want to get there early in case Craig’s there. I feel bad for seemingly avoiding my friends and lying to them, but I just need to get through the day and go home and think before I think I’ll be able to handle it better._

 

He knew he would have to go to math eventually. He’d never have the guts to actually skip, but he was going to stay in here as long as possible. All he could think was, _when would this long day be over?_

 

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

 

Craig eventually was able to muster up some kind of excuse for what happened. Sure it wasn’t the best, but it was believable and definitely better than nothing. He sighed, a bit from relief, but also from noticing that class was almost over. He was going to see Tweek in a few minutes. Whether that was a good thing or a bad thing, he still wasn’t sure.

 

Craig began putting his things away, much like the other students, while Token took his phone from his pocket when he felt it buzz. It was a text from Clyde. ‘hey man, tweek’s been a bit off today, and jimmy and i were concerned. has craig said anything? or could you maybe ask him if he knows if anything happened?’

 

Token looked over at Craig who seemed focused on putting his things together quickly, he assumed so he could dart out of the room before Token could say anything to him. He frowned at this, but didn’t say anything, instead responding to Clyde. ‘Craig’s been actin weird 2. He came into class looking distracted and didn’t even acknowledge I was here until I called him out on him actin weird. He then told me a lie about it being from a lack of sleep, but i saw right through it. But somethings up with tweek too? That cant be good..’

 

Now both of them were more worried than before. Both of their friends were acting strangely. Maybe something happened at the bus stop or when they weren’t there? ‘shit. craigs off to? maybe something happened this morning between them?’ ‘That’s exactly what i was thinking 2, but god i hope not..’

 

After he sent the last text, the bell rang for the end of second period and the start of third, making Token panic a little seeing as he forgot to put his stuff away. He noticed Craig had made his way out of the room already, without saying a word to him.

 

Token was worried about his friends, just as he was sure the other two were. If it was affecting Craig, it was something big. He finished packing his things and headed out the door to his next class.

 

Sure Craig could run for now, _But we’re in your next class Tucker; all of us. We’re gonna get to the bottom of this._ He sent Clyde and Jimmy messages about what just happened and how they should try talking to the two next period.

 

While Craig had nearly ran out of the classroom to avoid having to talk to Token, once he rounded the nearest corner on the way to math, he slowed his pace a bit. He wasn’t ready to do this.. So he decided that he would take his time in case Tweek had still gotten there early as they usually did.

 

What was he going to say, if he even said anything at all, or if he even got the chance to? He went over what he was going to say in his mind for practice. He had to deal with this sooner or later, and sooner was usually better. They just needed to forget this happened so they could move on and things could go back to the way they were. 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I find as I keep writing I enjoy and am prouder of each new chapter. I hope you guys feel similarly! And if you like Clyde, Jimmy, and Token, they'll be part of the story too! They're already in two more chapters so far, and I'm sure they'll be in more. I'm not as confident in writing them though, because I don't feel like I know 100% what their characters are/what I want them to be. So they may take more of a backseat, which makes sense since Craig and Tweek are the main focus of the story.
> 
> Let me know your thoughts though! It's so nice to read your comments! I'm glad you seem to like "softer" Craig, because I do too. Thanks again for reading, see you next week!


	6. It Began With Holding Hands

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Craig and Tweek have to go to Math and work on an assignment together.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hello! I've been lacking time/motivation to write recently. But thankfully there's still 2 more chapters already completed and ready to be posted after this one! I'm glad you seem to enjoy it! Now that I don't have school all day everyday anymore, I should have more free time to write!
> 
> As always thanks for the comments and kudos! Please let me know what you think and like/don't like so I can try to improve and make it more enjoyable for you! Enjoy!

Craig arrived to class about two minutes before the bell rang, which was much earlier than he had hoped, but he decided to just go in. He’d have to face Tweek sometime in the next few minutes, so might as well be now right?

 

Upon entering the room, Craig wasn’t completely surprised to see that Tweek wasn’t there yet either. He breathed a sigh of relief and hurried to sit down. Now that he had another minute or so to himself before Tweek got there, he could organize his thoughts and think about what he was going to say.

 

Tweek on the other hand was still locked in the bathroom, not wanting to leave. He knew he’d have to leave like now, or he would be late. The thought of being late was surprisingly outweighing his fear of seeing Craig.

 

He frowned in frustration. _We’re best friends! Why am I so afraid to talk to him? Yeah something weird happened, but it’s over, it happened. Maybe we can just forget about it.. I just want things to go back to the way they were._

 

Tweek took his phone out of his pocket, checking the time. He felt his skin prickle with nerves upon realizing he had to leave now. Tucking his phone back into his pocket hastily, he closed his eyes and took a deep breath. _It’s ok. You can do this._ He opened his eyes, and reached up and unlocked the stall door, then walked out of the bathroom.

 

Luckily (or maybe unluckily) the bathroom was almost directly across from his classroom. Tweek swallowed hard gazing at the door. _Well, now or never.. Right?_ He slowly and carefully made his way to the open door. Trying his best not to look hesitant or nervous.

 

When he stepped inside, he kept his head tilted down to avoid looking at Craig or any other students that he was sure were staring. The two friends almost always had arrived to class together. So it was a strange occurrence to see them come in at different times, and not even looking at each other.

 

Craig had seen the motion of a student entering the classroom right before the bell was about to go off. While he didn’t look up, he could see in his peripheral vision that it was clearly Tweek, who was looking down.

 

Upon realizing it was Tweek, Craig felt his heart leap in his chest, not that his nerves manifested any outward change in action or appearance. He thought himself lucky that he was usually pretty good at being able to control his emotions and not let them show, despite how strong they were sometimes.

 

Tweek makes his way to his seat, but while he wasn’t rushing, he also wasn’t dragging behind either. He wanted to make it to his seat before the bell rang, but… When he finally sat down, Craig hadn’t acknowledged him. No hello, no smile, not even looking over at him. Tweek felt his stomach drop. While earlier had been awkward, he really hoped Craig wasn’t mad at him for rushing out, or for the teasing earlier.

 

He looked over at Craig to see if by acknowledging him, his friend would do the same. He even gave him a small smile, hoping to get something from his friend. Craig noticed Tweek’s attempts to get his attention, but was trying his best not to panic and forget everything he had prepared to say. He felt guilty when he saw Tweek’s smile fade, and turn back away from him.

  
Craig focused as best he could and turned towards Tweek, trying his hardest to keep his cool, mustering up all he could to try and say something. The motion next to him caught Tweek’s attention, and he turned back to his friend who was now facing him, hopefulness written all over his face.

 

Craig was not ready for Tweek’s reaction. It caught him off guard and all the courage he had just managed to muster up seemingly disappeared, leaving him with his mouth frozen open, and stuck in place like a deer in headlights.

 

Thankfully the bell rang signaling the start of class rang making them both jump, but giving them an opportunity to move again. _Ok, what the hell was that for?_ Craig thought to himself, frustrated. _Why couldn’t I say anything? How is Tweek’s face able to leave me speechless like that?_ The last thought leaving him yet another question that he imagined would go unanswered for awhile.

 

Tweek now confused about their interaction. _What even happened? I’ve never seen Craig just.. freeze, like that before.._ The two both turned their attention to their teacher at the front of the room.

 

“And so for today since you’ve all been seemingly struggling with the new topic from last week, I decided everyone could benefit from a worksheet.” The entire class groaned in response “Yes I know, incredibly exciting. But since I knew you weren’t probably going to be on board, this assignment will be due tomorrow for a grade. If you finish it in class, you have no homework for tonight. However if you are unable to complete it, you will finish it up tonight. And to make sure you actually try, I will be collecting them tomorrow and checking your answers. While I won’t mark you down for incorrect answers, that is only if you actually make an attempt.”

 

This statement also receiving more groans from the students. “I wasn’t finished. In order to make sure you all don’t cheat and have one person do work and everyone else copy them, every table gets their own sheet with their own problems. But because you and your table partner have the same work, I am allowing you to work together. This is a double-sided worksheet, so you can do one side, while your partner does the other. You can then check each other’s work before copying down their answers. I’m doing this so there’s less work for you all.”

 

After finishing her instructions, their teacher begins handing out the worksheets. _Oh God! She said working together! We can hardly speak to each other right now, how are we going to be able to get the assignment done??_ His twitching was back and just as bad as ever.  

 

Craig noticed Tweek starting to freak out a bit, and tried to say something, but as he did their teacher came over and dropped the papers on their desk. When she noticed Tweek she stopped and looked at him concerned.

 

“Tweek, honey, are you alright?” she said quietly. She had dealt with his panic attacks before and was honestly one of their favorite teachers because of it. She was very patient and understanding. Even letting them get out of school work and tests if his anxiety was getting bad.

 

Tweek looked up at their teacher who was now standing above him, a worried look on her face. He felt bad about worrying her, and didn’t want to bother her with what was going on, so he tried his best to put on a fake but unconvincing smile. “Oh, y-yeah, I am. T-thanks for asking. Just been a bit off t-today is all.”

 

Obviously not completely convinced, but not wanting to press further, she stands up “Ok hon. Please let me know if you need anything alright?” “I will, t-thank you” he stammered. She walked over to the next table to finish handing out the worksheets.

 

Craig sighed, trying to recollect his thoughts. _I don’t want to be rude by not looking at him, but I don’t want to get stuck like that again. But I have to say something…_ “So, uh, about the assignment..” he said lacking confidence and the normal “don’t care” tone in his voice.

 

This got Tweek’s attention. Looking back over to Craig, he noticed his friend wasn’t looking at him while he spoke. But after he turned and looked closer, he thought he saw Craig’s cheeks start to turn slightly red. Confused but curious, Tweek waited for a moment to see if Craig was going to continue, and when he didn’t, he spoke up.

 

“Uh, what about it..?” he asked. “Oh, um, do.. do you want to work on it together?” Craig answered, turning to look back at Tweek. Tweek sat up straight, his expression bright and almost excited. “Oh? Yeah! Of course..” Craig smirked at the enthusiasm, making Tweek suddenly become more self-aware and calm down a bit.

 

“Uh, yeah, that sounds like a good idea I guess” he corrected himself, trying his best to seem calm and unphased. Craig tried his best to hold in a laugh. Composing himself he asked, “Cool. So, what side do you want to do?” “Huh?” Tweek looked a bit confused as if he didn’t understand the question. “What side of the worksheet do you want to do?” Craig repeated, giving him a patient smile.

 

Realization hit Tweek hard, and he could feel his cheeks warm again, yet again. _What is going on today? What’s with all the blushing?_ “Oh, right, duh.” He said, wanting to smack himself for being so forgetful. “Um, I don’t really care.. whatever you don’t want to do I guess”

 

Seeing his opportunity, Craig leaned back in his chair, crossing his arms behind his neck and glancing over at Tweek with a smug smile and his eye closest to Tweek open. “Whatever I don't want to do huh? So you’ll do it all then? Cool, because I certainly don’t want to do any of it”

 

“W-what? H-hey!” Tweek protested, lightly punching Craig on his right shoulder. “Ow!” he cried out in fake pain. Craig caught off guard a bit by this can’t help but chuckle. “Come on dude, I was just kidding” Tweek rolled his eyes, and pretended to pout. “I knew you were. Dick”

 

“Oh so at first I was an asshole, then an ass, and now a dick? When will the name calling end Tweek?” he cried as dramatically as was possible by the nearly emotionless Craig Tucker, pretending to be hurt. “When you stop acting like this” he retorted, looking back at him in pretend annoyance.

 

They both couldn’t contain their laughter, earning them stares from their classmates and a look from their teacher that said both “Glad Tweek seems ok” and “Get to work” Craig reading her expression and not wanting to get in trouble, stops laughing and tries to refocus. “Ok, we should probably actually try and get some work done now.” Tweek stops laughing as well. “Oh, right..”

 

The two set to work on their individual sides. Thankfully for the both of them, the topic it was on had clicked with them quite easily in comparison to their fellow classmates. So they worked quietly and efficiently. For about twenty minutes they were able to work and get most of the problems done before Craig leaned back in his chair and stretched a little.

 

“Well, I think I’ve done about all I can do without completely burning out my brain, how about you?” he asked turned to Tweek. Tweek took another second to finish writing before looking up and nodding. “Yeah, it’s not too bad, but doing basically the same thing over and over is kinda boring.”

 

“Well, maybe if we don’t finish during school I could visit you at work tonight so we could get it done before class tomorrow.” Craig suggested. Tweek lit up at the idea a little. “Oh yeah! That’s uh.. I think that’s a uh, good idea.” he said trying not to sound too enthusiastic about it, turning away nervously from his outburst. But why shouldn’t he be? His friend was going to visit him at work which got boring when he had to close alone.

 

Craig nodded, leaning forward again and looking down at his work in front of him. “Cool” He knew he had to do it now. After this he would only see Tweek next period and for lunch before they went home. He frowned with worry about what to say. No matter how much he prepared ahead of time, he wasn’t ready, not that he seemed too worried to Tweek.

 

Without looking up he said “Well, I think since we did a good chunk of it, we could probably take a little break for a bit.” Tweek turned back to Craig. “Y-yeah, I think that sounds like a good idea” for some reason Tweek was getting nervous at the suggestion. _But why?_ he wondered.

 

“Uh, not to make things awkward or anything, but I think we should probably talk about earlier..” Craig suddenly speaking in more of a whisper. “O-oh, y-yeah.. That’s probably a good idea..” Tweek whispered back, his nerves making him start to twitch again. When he focuses on something like school work, it’s one of the few times during school he usually can stop twitching, but now Craig’s suggestion brought those nerves right back.

 

“So, uh, I’ve been trying to figure out a logical explanation for it since it happened, and I came up with something that sounds reasonable to me, but if you don’t agree, I’ll try to figure out something else.. I don’t know.. Not sure that that really made much sense sorry.” red beginning to find it’s way on Craig’s cheeks as he spoke.

 

“Oh? Ok. I’m sure whatever you came up with will make sense.” “Alright, well, don’t say I didn’t warn you..” he said rubbing his neck. Tweek looked at him nervously, feeling his cheeks warm again, but with hopeful eyes anticipating Craig’s response. Craig noticed the blushing and for some strange reason it gave him butterflies, but he managed to push through the strange sudden nervousness and speak.

 

“So, remember when we ‘went out’ in fourth grade?” using his fingers to make quotations for ‘went out’. Tweek thought for a second, remembering, and wondered where Craig was going with this. “Yeah.. I remember..”

 

It wasn’t a fun memory. There had been girls at school drawing them as a couple leading to them trying to pretend to be a gay couple before ‘breaking up’ to try and fix everything. Which only made everyone seem depressed over it. So trying to be the bigger people, they pretended to be back together for everyone else’s sake. While it was a bit awkward at first, it had helped them become better friends, but eventually they did have to come forward and tell the town that they weren’t actually together. _And man was that a bit of a shitshow.._ Tweek remembered.

 

“When we were pretending to be gay, you would often get panic attacks because you were worried about people finding out we weren’t and what that would lead to. That and you hated all the attention we got. Your anxiety was really bad back then, and one of the few ways that seemed to really help was when I held your hand. I’m not completely sure why, but it seemed to work.” Craig’s face was growing redder with each word as he wondered if Tweek would think it was a good enough explanation or not.

 

Tweek was listening intently, nodding as Craig continued. His explanation did make sense. It was true. His anxiety was so bad back then he felt as though he could barely function most of the time. But thankfully Craig was there to help him through things and was always incredibly patient, and somehow almost always knew how to make him feel better.

 

“So I’m assuming that because it worked in the past, that’s why I grabbed your hand this morning. It was almost like an old reflex or something..” again thinking he sounded stupid, and resting his head on his left hand so he was still turned towards Tweek.

 

 _It makes sense to me Craig, no need to apologize or think it isn’t good enough._ Tweek gave Craig a sweet smile before responding, “Yeah, that makes sense. It’s ok Craig. Sure it was a little weird this morning, but I understand why you did it.” Craig looked a bit relieved. He hadn’t wanted things to become weird between them over something stupid like this.

 

Tweek saw his friend relax a bit. He frowned slightly when he decided to continue. “But, uh, I want to apologize for rushing off after English this morning..” Craig looked at Tweek slightly confused. They had just said that this morning was weird and that everything was pretty much ok now. He didn’t like when Tweek would apologize so often, especially when he had nothing to apologize for.

 

“I just want you to know that it wasn’t because I was mad or anything.. I just..” his voice trailing off. “No no. Tweek, it’s ok, I get it. I didn’t think you were. It was just an awkward situation is all, it’s really fine.” Tweek felt a bit better upon hearing Craig say that, but still felt slightly guilty and that he might have hurt his friend. Craig wasn’t always completely honest with Tweek when he may have accidentally upset him. While he appreciated the lengths his friend went to look out for him, he didn’t want him to feel like he had to lie.

 

This time though it seemed pretty genuine, so he simply smiled “Thanks Craig. I’m just glad we worked this out” “No problem, I’m glad it’s done with too” After Craig finished, there was an awkward pause of silence, neither knowing what else to say to the other. Tweek started worrying a bit again about it. _We just talked it out, everything’s fine now, so why does it feel like I want to say something else..?_

 

It didn’t take long for Tweek to break the silence, much to the surprise of both boys. “Uh, I don’t want to make this weird again or anything, but.. uh, if I’m freaking out l-like that again.. um, if you aren’t weirded out by it or anything, you can do it again to help c-calm me down if you feel it’s n-neccessary..” Craig slightly taken aback by the forwardness looked a bit shocked, but not in a bad way. Tweek saw this and started backtracking.

 

“Oh geez, look, I-I’m sorry! I shouldn’t have said anything! Maybe let’s just for-” he was cut off by Craig holding up his hands as if to say ‘Woah’ “Tweek, it’s alright. I didn’t think anything bad of it, it’s ok dude. If you’re ok with it, I am too.” Tweek’s expression becoming less fearful and now relieved “Y-you mean it?” “Yeah” Craig smiled back.

 

“O-ok, well, only.. only when it’s like just the two of us, or somewhere people won’t be able to see.. I just don’t want to attract any attention from it or anything..” he added. Craig nodded back. “Of course dude. Had a feeling you wouldn’t want to be super public about it, and honestly I’m not sure I’d want to be either. People are honestly so judgmental.”

 

Tweek agreed. Especially in their town people could be very intolerant, even after all the PC stuff from fourth grade. “Yeah.. Oh, and if you wouldn’t mind maybe keeping this just between _us_? I mean, like not telling Jimmy, Clyde, or Token?” he said as he started playing with one of the many band aids wrapped around his fingers. While their main purpose was to protect his fingers from being chewed on worse than they already were, they also covered up minor cuts he had received in various ways.

 

“Oh yeah, right. I wouldn’t do that if you were uncomfortable with it, but..” Craig paused not sure how Tweek would take this next bit of information. Tweek twitched a bit after hearing the ‘but’. That word usually never meant anything good. Especially when said with that same tone Craig was using. “B-but..?” the word slipped past his lips, surprising him, but he looked up at Craig, still nervous. Craig noticed Tweek get visibly more uncomfortable and felt guilty.

 

“Don’t mean to make you nervous or anything, but Token already has called me out today for acting off” “What? What do you mean acting off?” Tweek looked at him a bit puzzled. “I looked very distracted and didn’t really talk to him much during all of class. But I didn’t tell him anything. Well, no actually, that’s not true. I tried telling him a lie to cover my ass, but he caught me on it. I didn’t tell him what actually happened though, but knowing our friends they’re all going to be bugging me about it later. I won’t tell em a thing though” He stated, shaking his head.

 

“Oh, well, thank you. Jimmy kinda picked up on me being off too, and I’m sure he’ll try talking to me later. Although they probably will be able to put two and two together quick that it’s something that happened to both of us..” he picked at his band aids again. “Well, they’re just looking out for us, but I won’t say a word if you don’t want me to.” “Thanks” Tweek repeated. “Of course dude.”

 

Craig looked up at the clock and saw they still had about ten minutes left in class. He stretched a bit and turned to Tweek, “While I’m 100% cool with coming to visit you tonight at work so we can finish this” he said pointing to his paper. “I don’t know about you, but I’d rather have more time to hang out or something instead of doing homework. So I’m going to try and finish as much as I can before class is over.” He picked his pencil back up and got back to work, Tweek following his example shortly after. “Oh! Yeah! Uh, good idea.”

 

The two were able to finish the problems before the bell rang, but decided to exchange answers after Tweek finished work. “Well, we’ve got class with all five of us next” Craig observed. “Think you’ll be ready if they ask questions?” Tweek blinked in a bit of surprise. How had he forgotten that they all had bio together next? He wasn’t going to be ready!

 

 _I’ll let something slip! They won’t understand! They’ll think we’re weird or still together and that we lied again or something! It’s too much pressure!_ Craig saw the worried look and tried to snap him out of it. “Tweek? Tweek!” Upon hearing his name, Tweek squeaked a bit in surprise. “Huh?” “Didn’t mean to make you panic like that, we’ll be fine dude. You know that if you look uncomfortable that they’ll stop right? And if they don’t I’ll make sure they do.” Craig raised both his fists jokingly.

 

Tweek giggled in response. “Alright tough guy. You’re right. I’m sure it’ll be fine” Craig smiled at Tweek laughing. It was such a nice sound, and it wasn’t incredibly common in school. Craig thought about it for a moment and realized that Tweek mostly seemed to laugh when it was only the two of them. Sure he would laugh when all of their friends would hang out, but he wouldn’t laugh as often and certainly wasn’t as comfortable or more himself with anyone but Craig it seemed. Craig felt a bit proud that he could get Tweek to relax and have fun.

 

 _He deserves it god damnit!_ Tweek interrupted his thoughts. “Uh, Craig..?” he had been sort of staring at Tweek with a weird expression Tweek was unsure how to describe, and it made him anxious. “Hmm?” Craig shook his head and coming back to reality. “Oh sorry” Tweek apologized grinning a bit.

 

“You were kinda in your own world there for a bit, and while I didn’t want to disturb you, class is about to end.” Craig looked up at the clock again. _Damn._ He was right. Class was over in about a minute. Craig couldn’t decide if the day was flying by or dragging, because honestly it felt like both. “Geez, guess I was. Thanks Tweek” “Don’t mention it dude” he replied, beginning to put his things away, Craig doing the same.

 

After they had both finished and zipped up their bags Craig threw his backpack over his shoulder and stood up. He held out his hand to help Tweek up, as he was seemingly struggling a bit on his own. Tweek took his hand and stood up. When they let go however, Tweek felt himself wanting to grab Craig’s hand again. But why?

 

 _What is wrong with me? Why do I want to hold his hand again?_ He tried his best to push those thoughts to the back of his mind when he realized Craig was talking to him. “So do you want to walk to class together, or are you gonna run away from me again?” he teased. Tweek crossed his arms and gave him a smug look. “Maybe I just don’t like you anymore. You’ll have to find a new twitchy, coffee-crazed friend”

 

Craig tried his best not to laugh “Is that so?” Tweek nodded. “Unless perhaps you were to try and convince me I shouldn’t drop you for the incident this morning and making me panic more than once” Craig winced a bit, not really feeling too badly since it was clear Tweek was just messing with him. “And how would I do that?” Craig asked, curious where Tweek was going with this.

 

“You can get off at my stop after school today, and be bored for hours in the shop while I work instead of just when I close.” Craig raised an eyebrow, still trying not to laugh. Was Tweek seriously going to make him sit there for hours while he worked? _At least I could get homework done and have some snacks while I do it too!_

 

The thought of the Tweak’s pastries and hot chocolate were more than enough to convince Craig to go. “If that’s what it takes, I will make this sacrifice of my time for friendship.” he proclaimed, bringing his hand to his heart. Tweek snorted. Craig could always make him laugh. “Dork” Craig stuck out his tongue “Yup, and you totally love it” It was true, and Craig knew it.

 

The bell suddenly rang and their classmates rushed out of the room, shoving each other out of the way. Tweek jumped a bit, but nothing more. “The hell are they rushing out of here like that for? It’s the middle of the day. Lunch isn’t even until next period.” he shook his head. Tweek chuckled “I don’t know. Well, ready for bio?” “Yep, let’s go.”

 

The two walked towards the door, Craig giving their teacher a thumbs up as they left. A relieved look on her face when she saw them leave. They walked towards the class, talking the whole time. Everything around them seemed to disappear. All the tension and awkwardness from earlier seemed to melt away. They were simply enjoying each other’s company for the short walk between the classes, eventually arriving at their next class. They were ready.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I know I'm posting this in the middle of the night (at least for me) but that's when I have been posting the others pretty much. Hope you enjoyed! See you next week!


	7. Biology or Chemistry?

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> More awkward teen boys, and more school work. Also concerned friends and whispering classmates stress out the two boys even more.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hey everyone! Again thank you for the comments and kudos! I'm so happy you seem to enjoy it! Sorry this is posted a bit later than the others have been. I woke up late and had to rush to work because now that I'm out of school I lost track of the days a little. 
> 
> Well, hope you enjoy!

When they reach the door to their next class they both pause. Each distracted by their own varying thoughts. Tweek was worried about what their friends might say or do to get out of them what was going on. Craig on the other hand paused when Tweek did, having a feeling they would need to take a second before entering, but was thinking something much different.

 

The whole way to their next class Craig felt the urge to hold Tweek’s hand again. It was a strong one, but also confusing to him. _Why would I want to hold his hand again? He’s fine!_ And he was. Tweek had been relaxed as they walked, enjoying the pleasant moment. He had nearly forgotten that they would have to face their friends during the next class.

 

Craig turned this thought over and over in his mind and couldn’t come up with a reasonable sounding explanation, and frowned to himself over his confusing thought. Tweek turned, looking up to see Craig seemingly frowning at the door in front of them. _Why does he look like that? Is he worried too? Oh God! If Craig’s worried then it must be worse than I thought!_

 

Tweek broke the silence, “Uh- Craig..?” he asked. Craig heard his name and turned towards it, looking down at Tweek. “Hmm?” Tweek tilts his head towards the door still looking up at his friend. Craig takes the hint, “Oh. Well, you ready?” “Uh yeah, I think so..” he said now looking at the ground. Craig looked down at him confusedly. It seemed as though Tweek had wanted to say something else but was seemingly struggling to for some reason.

 

“Tweek, do you need to say something?” he asked. “Huh?” Tweek twitched slightly, and looked back up a bit startled. “Sorry, just, did you want to say something..? You just kinda look like you have something on your mind.” _You._ Tweek thought. This startled him a bit, but he somehow managed to maintain his composure. At least externally. “Oh, um, yeah, I guess so..” his voice trailing off. _This is stupid! Why did I say that! Now he’s going to think I’m weird if he didn’t already.. He won’t want to be my friend anymore, he’ll-_

 

“Well..?” Craig tilted his head and gave him an an amused smile. Craig hoped Tweek was feeling ok, because the way he was acting was giving him the impression that something was wrong. Tweek looked away, unable to make eye contact “Well, uh, not to make it anymore a-awkward or anything, but, uh..” his voice cut off again.

 

Craig’s smile changed into more of a concerned frown, but he waited to let Tweek speak when he found his voice again. Tweek twitched and closed his eyes for a moment before he found the courage again to speak. “Could I.. HAVE A HUG?” he nearly yelled as an attempt to make sure he said it. However, he immediately covered his mouth blushing after he finished the last word.

 

Craig was a bit taken back by Tweek’s yell, which showed on his face. Tweek saw this and panicked a little over it. _Gah! Look at his face! He thinks I’m weird! Why did I have to say that??_ He started retracting his request in hopes Craig would forgive him. “I-I’m sorry, I shouldn’t have said that, just forget it happened..?” he started playing with the bandaids on his fingers.

 

Craig couldn’t help himself. He chuckled a bit knowing it would make Tweek nervous.But despite his best efforts, he couldn’t control it.  Tweek’s sudden outburst was as unexpected as it was amusing. Almost cute even. _Wait, cute?_ The thought confusing Craig for a moment. He dismissed it, convincing himself it was ok to think his best friend could be cute. _Cute like Stripe or something. Friends can think that about each other right? I mean, girls call each other that all the time.._

Exactly as he had predicted, Tweek panicked a bit more once Craig started laughing. _Oh no! He’s making fun of me! He thinks it’s funny and I’m weird! He probably doesn’t want to be friends with a weirdo like me.._

 

Craig attempted to try and calm Tweek down while also trying to compose himself. “Tweek! I’m sorry! I didn’t mean to, heh, laugh! Look..” Craig reached for Tweek’s hand and grabbed it gently. The blonde twitched with the contact, but felt a bit more relaxed after a moment.

 

“Sorry, meant to ask first but, thought this would help a little” Craig said blushing as he lifted their now linked hands. Tweek looked at their hands and nodded. “It’s ok. If you feel like it’ll help go ahead. I know you only mean to help.” Craig felt his cheeks warm for what seemed like the hundredth time that morning. “Ok, so, do you uh.. Still want that hug..?”

 

“Oh, yeah. If you don’t mind..?” Tweek looked up. He noticed Craig’s red cheeks and felt his begin to turn the same color as well, which Craig noticed. _How is this fair? He looks so cute!_ His thoughts again taking him by surprise. He would most likely never admit allowed he thought Tweek was cute. It would be weird right? He pulled Tweek in for a hug as to not freak him out by simply standing there.

 

The sudden movement startled Tweek a bit, but he relaxed into the hug. He felt almost proud. Craig almost never did things like this for anyone, but he was here and hugging Craig Tucker, the kid with the “I don’t care” attitude. His twitching had calmed down from this as well. Craig noticed Tweek feeling more relaxed, and felt a bit relieved himself. It really had been a stressful morning, and the day was only beginning.

 

Craig frowns when he remembers they have to get to class. He suddenly becomes more aware of himself, and looks around nervously, and is thankful no other students or teachers are around to bother them. He looks back down at Tweek, who is still pressed up against him seemingly content.

 

Craig can't help but smile. Again the reoccurring thought of Tweek being cute resurfacing. _It's so nice to see him so calm.._ the smile fades a bit _but we have to get to class before we're late or someone sees us and he panics._ Still looking down at the blonde who was wrapped around him, Craig whispers "Uh, Tweek..?"

 

Tweek is immediately pulled from his relaxed state and flinches a little. He looks up at Craig and remembers where they are. "Oh geez! I-I'm sorry! I lost track of time! I-" he starts pushing away from Craig who cuts him off.

 

"It's ok man, I did too." When he felt Tweek pull against him, he lets go, now feeling cold where Tweek had been. For some reason he felt himself longing to hug him again, almost as if the cold was a bit unbearable. He fought through it though, and gave Tweek a smile before asking “You ready?”

 

“Huh?” Tweek hadn’t exactly been paying attention and felt embarrassed when Craig had to repeat himself. Craig chuckled a bit to himself. Tweek was always distracted by his thoughts and always looked so cute whenever he had to ask Craig to repeat what he had said. _Again, why is the word ‘cute’ the only one that comes to mind? Why can’t my brain use any other adjective? Aren’t we taught in anything in English?_

 

“You ready for class?” “Oh” Tweek wanted to smack himself. This was already the second time today Craig had to repeat himself for him. “Uh, no..” his voice becoming quieter. Craig didn’t say anything, but raised an eyebrow in concern. If he wanted, Craig would have gladly ditched class with Tweek, but he knew he wouldn’t since Tweek would surely be more afraid of people talking about them not being there instead of being questioned.

 

Tweek saw the worry on Craig’s face and realized what he said and how it had sounded. “Oh! I mean, I guess I’m as ready as I can be, but no… no..” his voice almost inaudible at the second no. Craig nodded and pushed open the door. Just as he did so the bell rang, making them both jump.

 

Luckily for them however, their teacher wasn’t in the room. Most likely copying papers or got caught up talking to a colleague. Whatever the case, they were thankful for the situation. As the walked towards their seats near the rest of the group, they were walking very close together so that their hands nearly touched as the walked. Each of them secretly wanting to grab the other’s hand, but holding back to avoid stares and judgement.

 

This was thankfully unnoticeable to their friends who looked at them curiously. Clyde looked at them a bit confused before glaring at Token and Jimmy, who both shrugged in response, who were sitting next to him. Typically there’s only two kids at each table, but there weren’t enough and the three boys sat together behind Craig and Tweek.

 

The two sat down as normally as they could knowing they were about to be questioned. Tweek looked nervous, but that was to be expected even when he wasn't worried about being questioned by his friends, but he seemed to be somehow slightly calmer than normal. Tweek was surprised at his ability to “act”, but Craig always made things easier to do even when he nearly convinced himself he couldn’t. It first happened back in fourth grade when they tried to stage a breakup, and Tweek was surprisingly convincing.

 

Tweek winced a bit remembering that whole event and time in their lives. He had felt guilty about making Craig out to be a manipulative cheater, but it thankfully seemed to work out in the end.

 

“Uh, morning you two” Clyde raised an eyebrow at them, still trying to figure out the situation, and whether Jimmy and Token were simply overreacting before, or if their other friends were hiding something from them. Craig turned around, placing his elbow on the back of his chair and resting his chin on his hand, he flipped Clyde off because of the seemingly accusatory tone he was using before greeting him back. “Morning. Why’d you say it like that?”

 

Clyde just stared at his friend as if he were trying to read his thoughts. Tweek watched their interaction curiously. Craig simply staring back at him unamused. Token decides to break the silence. “Um, sorry to interrupt you guys staring contest or whatever, but..” The two of them snapping out of it to look over at Token.

 

“Yeah, sorry” Craig muttered into his hand. “S-so I assume you t-tuh-two are f-feeling better then?” Jimmy questioned. “What do you mean?” Craig sat up and replied with a fake “I have no idea what you’re talking about” tone. “Don’t play dumb Craig, you know I caught you in a lie this morning” Token crossed his arms. Craig flipped him off, Token returning the gesture.

 

“I don’t know what you guys had me worried about, they seem fine to me.” Clyde sank in his seat relieved. “Y-yeah, we’re fine. Just been a bit of an off morning for us I guess..” Tweek chimed in out of nowhere. They all looked at him when he spoke. Jimmy opened his mouth to reply, when their teacher walked in with a stack of papers. Tweek and Craig turned back around, the others now focusing their attention on the front of the room.

 

Their teacher passed out a partner/group assignment and explained it to them. It was something they would be working on all week until they handed it in on Friday. The whole class began dividing themselves into their usual groups, Craig and his friends doing the same. Typically everyone would just work with whoever was at their table, and today was no exception.

 

Craig turned to face Tweek. He put his elbow on the desk and rested his chin in his hand “I am so sorry” his tone was light and seemingly joking. Tweek looked at him curiously. “Sorry? About what?” “This is the second class you’ve been stuck with me as a partner” a smile finding its way onto Craig’s face.

 

Tweek couldn’t help but smile back, going along with it. “Ah yes, in a row too. Luckily all we have left together is lunch and then I won’t have to put up with you until we head home” While Tweek was joking about being relieved to be rid of Craig, he was actually feeling quite the opposite. He usually didn’t look forward to the end of the day since it was true that lunch was the last time he saw Craig until they left.

 

Thankfully he had a friend in his last two classes, but he always enjoyed classes with Craig more. Not to mention he was always better at calming him down. The others did their best, but the extra time the two had spent getting to know each other through the whole “gay” thing in fourth grade made it easier for Craig to help.

 

Behind them, their friends were watching them a bit frustrated. “Seriously! How do they not know?!” Clyde whisper yelled. “I d-don’t know. S--s-seems p-puh-pretty obvious to m-me.” Jimmy whispered back. “Look, I’m just as frustrated as you two, but one, let’s not talk about them when they’re _right_ in front of us and can probably hear us. And two, we should probably get going on this, because I certainly don’t want to have to do this at home” Token whispered. The other two nodded and started to get to work.

 

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

 

Class seemed to fly. Craig and Tweek managed to get a fair amount of work done despite how much they cracked jokes and goofed off. Their friends watching them, shaking their heads at their friends oblivion. With about two minutes before the lunch bell, they all start packing up to go to lunch.

 

“I am so ready for lunch. I’m staaaarving.” Clyde complained. “You’re always staaaarving” Craig mocked. Clyde crossed his arms and pretended he was offended. The other boys all chuckled. Everything seemed back to normal.

 

Except.. For some reason kids seemed to be staring at the boys, particularly Tweek and Craig. Tweek noticed first since he was usually worried people were staring even when they usually weren’t. When he realized the stares he stopped laughing, and his twitching was now a bit worse. Not enough that it was an obvious change to someone who didn’t spend much time with him, but it was enough to draw Craig’s attention.

 

Craig looked around and was a bit shocked to see kids staring back at them. However when Craig turned and looked at the kids staring, some turned around embarrassed they had been caught. Craig glared at a few who weren’t seeming to let up. He then looked down at Tweek. Yep, he had definitely noticed.

 

Craig started to reach for Tweek’s hand but stopped when he remembered that everyone would be able to see, especially since kids were already staring at them for some reason. Instead he just tried to get Tweek’s attention by talking. “Hey Tweek?” Tweek broke free from his thoughts and mind and looked at Craig. “Yeah..?”

 

“Don’t look at them. Don’t worry about them, ok? If they have a problem, I’ll be sure to fix it.” He held up his fists jokingly, his face seeming to lack much expression, which only made it funnier to Tweek, who giggled at the statement.

 

Behind them Clyde, Jimmy, and Token started laughing as well. “Th-that’s our Cr-aig alright!” Jimmy got out between laughs. Craig turned around, and doing his best to keep a straight face flipped Jimmy off. The bell rang and there was a loud shuffling of chairs as students practically ran out of the room.

 

Tweek flinched at all the noise, but pulled on his bag after removing his thermos. He hadn’t drank much coffee so far today, so he was starting to feel the need for it. He took a sip and it was disgustingly cold. He couldn’t care less though. Coffee was coffee, and it was what he needed.

 

The others grabbed their bags as well and they all headed out of the room together. They were always the last ones out because they sat close to the back and didn’t rush out of the room like everyone else did. The way to the cafeteria they all talked and joked about the assignment and everything else that had happened so far.

 

Tweek wasn’t really paying attention to the conversations, as he was more focused on figuring out why their classmates had stared at them like that. _Why would they stare?? They have no reason to! This class we actually acted normal in comparison to earlier! Why now?_

 

While Craig was participating in the conversations more than Tweek, he was wondering the same thing. _What were they talking about, and who do I need to punch for it?_ He tried to convince himself it was nothing and they’d be fine, but he just had a gut feeling that this was not going to go well. _But I mean, what could really happen..?_

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> How do you guys feel about cliffhangers btw? See you next week!


	8. Stares and Scares

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> It's time for lunch!

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hello everyone! Sorry this is being posted a bit later than normal. I'm recovering from last night because I stayed up all night after graduation. I'm also sorry to say I've lost a bit of motivation to write and have been busy with preparations for yesterday. I'm almost done with the next chapter so that should hopefully be out by next week, but I'm not sure for the following chapters. 
> 
> Quick note about this chapter. There's a lot of scene/perspective changes, which will be marked by a line of ~ each time one of those lines happens is flipping to another scene and also the other's perspective. Also I hope you like cliff hangers :p

The friends finally made it to the cafeteria and were not surprised to find it already packed. Tweek tensed up a bit. He'd always hated the cafeteria. There were so many people! Although he was now less comfortable here in the cafeteria than in class, Tweek was used to it by now. So he was able to keep relatively calm despite that he still felt very anxious. 

 

They found their table and sat down. It was thankfully empty despite how late they were to arrive to lunch. Token, Clyde and Jimmy sit on one side, Tweek and Craig on the other. After the others had sat down and claimed the table, Clyde stood to go get lunch. Everyone brought lunch typically, except Clyde who was waiting in line. Tweek usually didn’t eat much if he did bring something, which always worried the rest of his friends. Especially Craig. It was obvious based on his physical appearance, that he didn’t eat much at home either. Tweek’s diet mostly seemed to consist of coffee. Craig noticed and had spoken to Tweek about his eating habits before, but nothing really came of it.

 

Usually at this point, Stan and his gang would have taken their table when they were this late, but they were nowhere to be found. Craig noticed this and almost rolled his eyes.  _ Course’ they’re not here. Probably in another country or something ridiculous.  _ Ever since elementary school, those boys were always missing school because they somehow got themselves involved in things that usually somehow put them in other countries and other weird places. Usually most of these situations were started by Cartman. None of the boys in Craig’s group could figure out how and why they were still friends. The other three hated Cartman, and he certainly hated Kyle.

 

When Craig sat down he rested his head on his hand. He was turned slightly towards Tweek, but his eyes were on him. Craig found himself trying to figure out how Tweek ate so little. He didn’t realize that in the process of zoning out, he was kind of staring at Tweek. Tweek noticed Craig staring and felt his nerves spike. 

 

_ What’s he staring at?? Do I have something on my face? My shirt?? Why is he staring? What did I do?? _ Despite his internal panic, Tweek simply sat there uncomfortably, not saying a word. When he started twitching a bit harder than normal, Token noticed and looked over at his friends. He saw Tweek twitching, and turned to look over at Craig.

 

Token was a bit startled to see Craig staring at Tweek. It was such an odd and out-of-character thing for Craig to do. Token shook his head and nudged Jimmy next to him. “W-what?” “Look at Craig and Tweek” Token whispered. Jimmy whispered back when he realized what was going on. “Duh-dude..” 

 

Token shook his head again. “I know man.. It’s honestly as confusing as it is frustrating how they don’t see it.” “Well, Cr-Craig’s kinda fuh-fr-fr-freaking Tweek out a bit.” “Yeah, I’ll try to snap him out of it.”

 

Tweek was looking down, playing with the bandaids on his fingers to try and keep calm. Token’s voice suddenly cut through both Tweek and Craig’s thoughts. “Uh.. Craig..?” Tweek nearly jumped out of his skin, despite that the attention was directed at Craig, not himself. 

 

Craig blinked hard and jumped slightly now turning his head to completely face Token and Jimmy. “Huh?” he replied, not completely refocused yet. “Dude, you were kinda freaking out Tweek.” Token said as he gestured towards Tweek, who was still a bit shaken up. “Wait what” Craig looked between Token and Tweek confused. “Dude, y-you wuh-w-were totally s-s-st-staring at him” Jimmy added.

 

Craig felt his cheeks start to warm, but kept up a straight face best he could. "What?" he said sounding confused. He turned to face Tweek. He would feel less embarrassed if Tweek saw him blush instead of his other two friends. Tweek had already seen him like that today, and knew he wouldn’t make fun of him as much as Token or Jimmy.

 

When Craig turned to face him, Tweek noticed the red now dusting his cheeks. Tweek gasped silently, surprised.  _ What is he blushing about now? Getting caught staring at me for some reason? But why would he blush? If there was something on my face, he wouldn’t blush like that.. What is going on? _ Tweek looked at him curiously, trying to figure out why Craig was turning red, and why he had been staring at him.

 

A lunch tray being dropped onto the table caught everyone’s attention. Tweek let out a squeak. Clyde winced a bit as he sat down. “Sorry Tweek, just looked like everyone needed to wake up or something” Craig flipped Clyde off for startling everyone. “I-it’s ok. Um, I’m going to go get a drink..” Tweek stood up, and grabbed his thermos from the table, bag still on his back.

 

“You want more coffee?” Craig asked, reaching for his own. “N-no. It’s fine. I just want water.” and with that Tweek turned and walked quickly out of the cafeteria. “Tweek wait! You’re still wearing your-” Token yelled after him. But the blonde was too far away to hear. “Geez. That kid is so forgetful sometimes.” he continued. Clyde and Jimmy nodded in agreement, Craig just shrugged. 

 

Craig noticed that when Tweek got up to leave, not only did he still have his backpack on, but he also looked a bit stressed.  _ Damn it. Was I really staring at him? I hope I didn’t make him too uncomfortable.  _ Craig had a feeling Tweek wouldn’t be back to lunch for a bit so he could cool down and relax. But if he took too long, Craig would go check on him.  _ He should be fine though right?  _

  
  


~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

 

Tweek pushed his way through the cafeteria. He heard Token call his name behind him, but he just had to get out of there. He finally reached the doors and shoved them open. He could still hear the noises of that crowded place. He headed down the hall towards the nearest water fountain. He heard the cafeteria doors close behind him, and once they did he was left to silence. Peaceful silence.

 

He breathed a sigh of relief. Normally school was stressful no matter what. But today was a different stressful. Tweek was thankful Craig had been there to help him through it though.  _ Despite the fact that Craig is kind of the main reason for most of the stress.  _ He chuckled to himself. 

 

Tweek decides to head into the bathroom first before filling his water. Luckily, it’s right next to the fountain. He walks inside and heads over to the sink. He places his thermos on it, and turns on the faucet and lets the water run for a minute. He was still twitching a bit, but it had definitely calmed down from the cafeteria. He closed his eyes and took a deep breath. 

 

After he breathed back out and opened his eyes, he ran his hands under the water. He then cupped them to catch some water before splashing it on his face. His face was still a bit warm from earlier, although the color had mostly faded. But the water felt good on his skin, and he splashed another handful on his face before turning off the faucet. 

 

He reached for a paper towel from the dispenser next to him and carefully dried off his hands and face. As he was drying his hands he realized one of his bandaids had fallen off. He sighed and took his bag off his back. The amount of times he’d had to change them during school made him realize he should probably start bringing extras with him. He unzipped the smallest pocket and took out a box of plain bandaids.

 

Tweek had always preferred these over colored ones or ones that had designs on them. These ones drew less attention to his hands, and as a result, less kids stared at or asked him questions about them. He tore off the wrapping, and in a swift and accurate movement, applied the bandaid to the exposed finger. The amount of times he had put on bandaids made him an expert at it. Tweek was sure he could even do it in his sleep.

 

He threw away the trash and put the box back in his bag, slinging it over his shoulder. He walked back over to the sink to grab the thermos. Making his way out of the bathroom he looked up and down the hall. As he expected, no students or teachers were to be found. Lunch had started, so most people were in the cafeteria or in a class waiting to eat instead of roaming the halls. Tweek relaxed a bit and walked over to the fountain.

 

He wasn’t a fan of filling his water bottle up because he was worried someone might sneak up behind him. It wasn’t a hard thing to do either. The fountain was partially hidden behind a wall that led to the bathroom. So he had less of a view of potential students or teachers who could startle him or something.

 

Cartman was one who had always seemed to enjoy doing this exact thing to Tweek over the years. He alone was probably the reason Tweek was most paranoid to use the fountain. But seeing as Cartman and Co. were who knows where made Tweek let his guard down a bit. It was the middle of lunch, and Cartman wasn’t here to bother him. He focused on the relaxing noise of the water running, and felt calm. 

 

“Heya Tweek!” a voice came from somewhere behind Tweek. “Agh! Jesus!” Tweek yelped and jumped in surprise, grabbing at his hair. In the commotion he knocked over his thermos onto the floor, water spilling out of it. Luckily the fountain filled bottles slowly, so there wasn’t much water to be spilled. “Ah!” Tweek yelled as he reached for the thermos. He picked it up and turned around to face the person standing behind him. Who the hell would sneak up on him like that except Cartman?

 

Tweek was a bit shocked to see Leopold Butters Stotch standing now in front of him, a concerned look on his face. “Agh! What do you want Butters?” Tweek spat. He hadn’t meant it to come out so harshly. Butters was one of the few kids that didn’t hang out regularly with their group he wasn’t really afraid of for the most part. I mean, how could you be when he goes by “Butters”? The childhood nickname had stuck with him through high school. Tweek couldn’t imagine getting stuck with a nickname like that, especially in high school. But the boy didn’t seem to mind.

 

“Oh geez. I’m real sorry Tweek. I didn’t mean ta startle ya” he apologized. Tweek wanted to be frustrated. Everyone knew he was jumpy. And Butters was definitely not the type of kid to do something like this on purpose. But he was known to be a bit forgetful and unaware of what he did and how it affected others.

 

“I-it’s fine.. What did you want?” Tweek repeated, clutching his thermos tightly. “Oh! Right. I just wanted ta ask ya somethin” For seemingly no reason Tweek felt his twitching and nerves get worse. Maybe it was the tone of voice, or the fact he was still recovering from almost actually being scared to death a second ago. “Y-yeah? What’s up..?”

  
  


~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

 

Back in the cafeteria Craig kept checking his phone for the time.  _ Tweek’s been gone for awhile. He should be back by now right? _ His other three friends had been trying to hold a conversation, but Craig was drawing all of their attention. Clyde finally decided he couldn’t take it any longer. “Ok,  _ something's _ going on with you and Tweek. You’re both definitely a bit off..” Craig looked up. “What are you talking about?” Clyde gave him a “really?” look. “Dude, Tweek is even jumpier than normal, you were staring at him, and now you’re anxiously checking your phone every ten seconds. What is going on?” 

 

Craig didn’t respond immediately. He had promised Tweek they wouldn’t tell their friends about this morning, but they were quite clearly catching on. Because he didn’t want to lie to them, he told them part of the truth. “If you  _ really  _ must know. Tweek just had a panic attack this morning and it freaked us both out.” 

 

The three friends across from him exchanged doubtful glances. “What? That’s what happened.” Craig knew they wouldn’t be fooled that easily, but had hoped it would work.”Not tuh-to play it duh-dow-down or anything, but Tweek h-ha-h-has p-panic attacks all the t-tuh-tuh-ti-time.” Jimmy started. “Yeah, and usually the rest of us are freaked out, meanwhile you always seem to know how to calm him down.” Token continued. 

 

Craig was frustrated. He wasn’t mad at his friends for being concerned, they were simply looking out for the two of them. Just like how they would for any of them. But he wasn’t going to say anything unless he knew Tweek would be fine with it, so he had to do his best to try and convince them everything was fine. “Look, I can’t really explain it, and I don’t know if Tweek wants me to say any more than that, but he just had a bit of a panic attack this morning and it just freaked us both out a bit. I’m just not sure he’s completely recovered, so I was going to go make sure he wasn’t having another one or something and was checking my phone to see if he sent me any messages or just check the time to make sure he isn’t gone for too long.”

 

Craig let out a short sigh after finishing.  _ Man, I’m out of breath from that.  _ The others just stared from across the table, nobody saying a word. Craig raises an eyebrow at them before Clyde finally speaks. “Dude. I think that’s the most I’ve heard you speak at one time. The fuck.” “Yeah, you almost sounded like Tweek when he starts rambling about one of his anxieties.” Token added. 

 

Craig paused for a moment. It was true. He wasn’t much for conversation when they were in a big group. Mostly just flipping the others off or adding little side comments here and there, never leading the conversation. Speaking of, he stood up and flipped everyone off. “I’m gonna go check on him.” 

 

The other three didn't say anything and just watched as he walked out of the cafeteria. "He's such a liar.." Clyde said shaking his head. "Well, maybe they've got it figured out. Maybe we should just let them be but make sure they know we're here for them." Token stated. "I agree." Added Jimmy. The boys agreed and went back to eating lunch.

 

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

 

_ Ok, now where is he?  _ Craig looked left and right, unsure which way Tweek had gone.  _ Probably this way, the closest fountain is this way  _ he thought, heading down the hall. Again he was frustrated with his friends. He knew they only meant to help.  _ But sometimes you are able to handle things yourself. Can't they take the hint?  _

 

Although he couldn't really blame them much. He would have done the same for any of them, but obviously in a more subtle way. His thoughts began to shift to Tweek again. He had been gone for longer than was necessary to get water.  _ I'm sure he's fine. He can handle himself. Besides, he can text if he needs help.  _ Craig was about to turn around and head back to the cafeteria when he heard someone hyperventilating around the corner.

 

Craig started nearly running to see who was freaking out, but was pretty sure he knew who it was. He was not at all surprised but almost upset to see Tweek sitting on the floor by the fountain, hands in his hair. Craig was so focused on Tweek he hadn't even realized the other boy standing there. 

 

"Craig!" The boy exclaimed when he noticed Craig. Craig turned and faced him, a bit startled to see Butters standing there looking almost as panicked as Tweek. "Butters?" "Craig! I-I'm so glad you're here!" "What the hell happened? What did you do to him?" Craig demanded.

 

"D-do? I didn't do nothin'! I jus-" "You know what? I don't care. Just get out of here Butters." He stated, now returning his attention to Tweek, kneeling down next to him. "But I-" "Get the  _ fuck _ out of here!" Craig yelled. "Oh. I-I'm sorry.." he said quietly as he started walking away. 

 

Craig was angry. Tweek had already been really stressed out today, now what?  _ I'll deal with Butters later  _ he thought, adding yet another thing to his mental checklist. 

 

Kneeling down next to Tweek, Craig's voice softened. "Tweek..? Tweek, can you hear me..?" The shaking boy on the ground didn't respond. He kept shaking and grabbing at his hair. Only now did Craig notice the small clumps of blonde hair sitting on the ground next to him, some more in the boy's hands. 

 

"Oh Jesus" Craig mumbled. Pulling out his hair and chewing/picking at his fingers were some of the ways Tweek tried dealing with stress. They had talked about it before like his eating habits, but again, nothing really came of it. It wasn't something he could easily control. 

 

Craig looked around. Thankfully Butters had listened and left, and there were still no students or teachers around. "Tweek? We have to get you out of the hall." He slowly and gently reached up for Tweek's hands. Craig hated when he pulled at his hair. He knew it hurt, and the fact that he couldn't control it made it worse. He gently untangled them from Tweek's messy hair, and took them in his own. 

 

Tweek was still breathing hard and not reacting to anything around him. When Craig grabbed his hands however, Craig felt him twitch, then relax slightly. His twitching was still bad, and Craig even thought he saw him tearing up. “Tweek? I’m gonna try to pull you up with your hands, ok? Nothing bad will happen, you just need to get up.” Craig knew Tweek wasn’t likely hearing much if anything of what he said. So he stood up slowly, pulling Tweek up with him. He shifted him so Tweek was now leaning against his shoulder. Craig had to basically drag Tweek, since he wasn’t really walking or even standing. 

 

“Tweek, either you have to walk or I’m gonna have to pick you up, because I don’t think I can keep this up.” Craig huffed. Tweek wasn’t particularly heavy, but his bag was weighing them down. Tears were streaming down Tweek’s cheeks now. “Fuck it.” Craig reached down and picked Tweek up bridal style.  _ Thank fuck nobody’s here to see this. _ Craig’s face felt warm. He wasn’t sure if it was from embarrassment, or from struggling to move Tweek.

 

Craig looked around and spotted a nearby empty classroom. The door was open and the lights were off, which was more than enough for Craig. He walked carefully towards the door. It was certainly easier to carry Tweek instead of drag him. Tweek still hadn’t said anything, but his deep breaths were now mixed with light sobbing. He clutched Craig’s sweatshirt in one of his hands. He held it tightly, and was almost cuddling up against Craig. 

 

Craig’s heart hurt after hearing Tweek cry. He was used to panicked yelling, and twitching. But crying was something he was less familiar and as a result, less comfortable with. Luckily the door was open which made it much easier for Craig to maneuver inside. Once he was in the room, Craig carefully lifted his leg and pushed the door closed. Still carrying Tweek, he brought him to the back of the room and sat down on a desk. He put Tweek into his lap, who was still crying as he clung to Craig's shirt. 

  
_ The hell did Butters do or say to him? I'll kick his ass later.  _ Craig looked down at the sobbing mess in his lap and wrapped his arms around him. Seeing Tweek like this almost made Craig want to cry too. But luckily for both of them he was able to keep his emotions from displaying outwardly. Otherwise he already would have started crying, and kicked or punched something. He sighed, and held onto Tweek so he could calm down and catch his breath.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I'm so sorry Tweek! I wish it didn't have to be this way, but there has to be conflict. Also, any ideas as to what made him so upset? See you all next week! :)


	9. Pokes and Rumors

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Craig tries to calm Tweek down. Ends up with an elbow to the ribs.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hey guys! So sorry for not posting this last week, but I just had a bit of motivation to write and post Puppy Love. This chapter was complete for last week, but I as of now have no more writing really done on the next chapter. Literally just one sentence. And I know this is earlier than normal, but I just don't want to forget.
> 
> I also need to say I'll be gone for 2 weeks or so and I'm unsure if I'll have access to any internet to post or anything. I really hope I'll have some form of internet, but I'm going to be in a different country on vacation. I'm leaving this Tuesday so maybe I could try and write more and either publish another chapter or wait until I get back. I'm going on some long plane rides, so I'll maybe be able to write? 
> 
> Well, please let me know if you have any questions or anything, or suggestions for what to do. Without further ado however, please enjoy chapter 9!

Tweek was shaking in Craig’s arms, still gently sobbing. Craig took one of his arms wrapped around Tweek and reached up to pet his hair gently. He surprised himself with this. He had never done this sort of thing with anyone. Not even Trisha, and they were family for God’s sake. Once he reached up he had wanted to pull back as to not startle Tweek, but he didn’t. He couldn’t explain why, but he wanted to for some reason. 

 

He gently ran his fingers through Tweek's hair, being careful not to pull it. Which was something easier said than done. His hair was incredibly tangled despite its short length. Craig also noticed a few spots where Tweek had pulled some hair out, and avoided them. He frowned when he saw them. Obviously pulling out his hair hurt, but Tweek couldn’t really seem to help it. 

 

The two sat huddled together for a few minutes, Tweek slowly calming down. Craig’s sweatshirt was now was covered in tears, but he didn’t mind. Tweek’s breathing was calming down, and his grip on Craig’s sweatshirt loosened. Craig was still gently petting his hair, relieved that it seemed like the worst was now over. 

 

Craig stopped and put his hand that had been in Tweek’s hair down beside him. He looked down at the small boy in his arms and felt his face flush again. This time more from imagining what someone would say if they walked in to see them.  _ Thank God this room was open  _ he thought. Craig decided it was time to see if Tweek felt ok enough to talk now. He whispered gently “Tweek? Can you hear me?” 

 

Tweek let out a small noise when Craig stopped petting his hair. It had felt nice, and he hadn’t wanted Craig to stop. Craig chuckled at the sound.  _ He makes the funniest noises sometimes. _ “I’m going to take that as a yes” Tweek looked up at Craig. He knew he looked terrible from the crying. Craig thought otherwise. 

 

“You gonna be ok now?” Craig asked still looking down. Tweek simply nodded his head slowly, too afraid to speak in fear of crying again. Despite his mind telling him not to, Craig pulls Tweek in closer, hugging him. Tweek startled by the movement a bit, reaches around behind Craig and hugs him back after a few seconds. The boys simply sit huddled together for a short moment before Craig decides to try and figure out what happened. 

 

Craig leans back a bit. He untangled his arms from Tweek’s back, placing them on either side of him on the table for balance. The blonde doing the same and looking up at Craig. Craig looked down at the boy in his lap, and fought off his feelings of embarrassment and the oncoming redness in his cheeks. “So, uh.. If you don’t mind me asking, what exactly happened?” Tweek broke eye contact and looked down, grabbing at his fingers and twitched at Craig’s words. Of course Craig was going to ask him about what happened. He literally just had a freaking panic attack. Despite the fact that he didn't want to talk about it because he didn't want to remember it and panic again, he knew he had to because Craig had to know too.

 

Tweek didn't respond right away. He was trying to think of what to say without getting upset again. Craig frowned a bit defeated. He was used to Tweek shutting down and not telling him what was going on. But today has clearly been harsh on the teen in his lap. He just wished Tweek would talk to him about this stuff.  _ I just feel so powerless. I hate seeing any of my friends upset, but with Tweek it's so much more often. Poor kid deserves a break.. _

 

"Hey. It's ok if you don't want to talk about it. I-" "No!" Tweek interrupted him. Craig paused, a bit startled, but waited for Tweek to continue. Tweek "I-I'm sorry! I didn't mean to yell! I just.." he closed his eyes and let out a sigh. "I don't want to talk about it because I don't want to get upset about it again" Craig cut in, not realizing Tweek wasn't finished. "Oh. It's ok, you don-" "I wasn't finished!" Tweek interrupted again. He felt bad again for yelling, but he had to say this while he had the courage to without panicking again.

 

Craig also felt guilty for not letting Tweek finish. He sat patiently looking down and waiting for Tweek to speak. "Y-you need to hear this too.. because.. because it involves you as well.." Craig looked down curiously at his friend.  _ Ok. Who the hells ass do I need to kick? _ Tweek continued talking. 

 

"I was getting a drink at the fountain when Butters came up behind me and scared the shit out of me. So I was already on edge when he told me.." Tweek had to cut himself off. He was already fighting back more tears and he hadn't even gotten to the upsetting part yet. "Yeah..?" Craig looked curious but also angry. His hands forming tight fists.

 

"And.. and he t-told me, th-that apparently some kids saw us in English!" Tweek's panicky breathing and twitching were coming back. He had to keep it together though. He didn't want to completely freak out again for both of their sakes. 

 

Craig felt as though Tweek had just punched him in the gut.  _ I guess we weren't as sneaky as we thought..  _ Even though Craig had heard every word of what Tweek said and understood what he meant, he still asked “Wait what do you mean they ‘saw us’? What does that mean?”

 

“What do you think it means?!” Tweek snapped, looking up at Craig. This time he felt less guilty for yelling.  _ What the hell else would I be talking about? _ Craig flinched at the second outburst. Clearly Tweek wasn’t doing well. And he could see why. 

 

"I'm sorry. You're right. What else would you be talking about.." Craig said quietly, lightly smacking his forehead in frustration. Tweek looked back down and simply breathed heavily out of his nose in response. Craig looked down at the boy in his lap for a moment. It got so quiet they could hear the clock at the front of the room tick. 

 

Craig was first to break the newfound silence. “Well..” unsure of where he was going with the thought he paused. Tweek looked back up at him curiously. “Well what?” he questioned. “Well.. how do you get rid of rumors?” Tweek raised an eyebrow. “Excuse me, what?” “The best way to get rid of rumors is to disprove them or wait for the next exciting thing to come along.” Craig’s eyes lighting up with enthusiasm as he spoke.

 

Tweek closed his eyes and smiled in disbelief as he shook his head lightly. “What are you talking about Tucker?” “I’m talking about trying to figure out a way to fix this.” Craig replied plainly. “So, how do you think we’re going to get rid of this rumor?” he asked again. “What do you mean ‘rumor’?? It’s true! It happened! Doesn’t that m-” Craig grabbed Tweek’s wrists which were now in the air out of frustration. “Tweek. I know it’s true. Just humor me for a minute alright?” 

 

Tweek looked up at Craig for a moment without saying anything. “Honestly it seems pointless to me since it’s not exactly a ‘rumor’, but fine. How do we get rid of this?” he said with fake and sarcastic enthusiasm. Craig frowned back.  _ He’s not taking this seriously. He really doesn’t think there’s a way to fix it.. _ Craig shook his head a little to try and keep from cursing out loud at his friend before continuing. 

 

“We won’t give anyone a reason to believe it. Look. Cartman and those assholes aren’t here for whatever reason and for who knows how long. If we can convince people that those other kids were lying or saw it wrong or something, people might forget it. Or we could just do our best to quietly deny it until the next big thing comes along.” Craig let out a heavy breath. That had taken a lot out of him. He isn’t used to talking that much all at once. So it was easy for him to feel out of breath. Tweek had been looking up at Craig as he spoke. But now he looked back down at his hands. Craig was sure he could almost physically see him thinking about what he just said.

 

“Well?” Craig asked. Tweek looked back up at the sound. He bit his bottom lip slightly. “I-I don’t know.. Maybe people won’t believe us. I mean, we’re best friends and we ‘went out’ all those years ago and everyone still thinks we’re gay. So we have that against us.” Tweek picked at the bandaids again. “And I mean..” he froze. Craig looked down in concern. He saw the little color in Tweek’s already pale face drain.  _ Oh shit. What now? _

 

“What if people have proof?? What if they took pictures or something!! Everyone has a phone these days! If someone saw us I’m sure they would have taken a picture to prove it! SHIT! What if they do have proof! What if they-” Tweek started twitching again. He even felt a few tears roll down his cheeks. His hands were in tight fists as he tried to fight off the urge to reach them up into his hair and pull some of it out.

 

“Tweek!” Craig nearly yelled. “Dude! It’s ok! I’m sure nobody took a picture. You know how strict our teachers and the school are about phones! We sang a whole freaking song about putting down your phone in elementary school, remember? I really doubt anyone would risk getting their phone taken for that.” Craig tried to reassure him. Craig grabbed Tweek’s wrists to make sure he couldn’t pull on his hair, but also because he hoped maybe it would help calm him down. Tweek was breathing hard. He was trying to steady his breathing, but it wasn’t easy. 

 

When Craig grabbed his wrists however, his breathing seemed to slow naturally. He was confused and amazed how this seemed to work. But he also wasn’t willing to question it. If it works, it works. Tweek’s fingers relaxed and fell out of their fists. Craig lowered their arms so now Tweek’s hands were resting comfortably on the tops of his legs. He was still in between Craig’s legs, but neither seemed too uncomfortable with this.

 

Craig let out a sigh when Tweek’s breathing and twitching returned to normal. “Y-you’re right Craig.. They probably wouldn’t have tried that.”  _ I’m sorry _ . Only saying the last bit in his mind. He didn’t want Craig to tell him to not apologize. It was honestly a reflex at this point, and one he tried to control seeing as it usually seemed to frustrate his friend.  _ I know I don’t always have to apologize, but it just feels right to or something I guess. _

 

Craig let out a sigh of relief, but kept up the same emotionless gaze. “Alright. Now we can talk about how we’re going to fix this.” Tweek looked up at him curiously. “And how are we going to fix anything? It’s not just a rumor, it’s the truth! How are we supposed to ‘fix it’ if it really happened?” Craig simply looks back at Tweek and sighs slightly before responding. 

 

“I’m not too happy with this idea, and I imagine you won’t be either. But what if we just didn’t hang out together as much?” Tweek felt like he might cry again.  _ He doesn’t want to be friends anymore, I knew it! This day has just been too weird for him and now he doesn’t like me anymore! _ Tweek looked up to try to keep from crying, but his twitching was becoming stronger. Craig notices and wants to kick himself.  _ How many times have I made him upset today alone? Damn it. _

“No no! It’s not like I don’t want to hang out with you, it just might help our cause if we just try to seem a little less close than we are or something.. I dunno..” Tweek took a deep breath and rubbed his eyes. “So I guess what you’re saying is you’re not gonna come with me after school to work today..” he said defeated. He had been looking forward to it. Because he worked so often, he usually only seemed to see his friends at school or if they visited him while he worked. But his parents could be a bit strict about his friends ‘distracting him’ so the latter usually didn’t happen as often.

 

Craig frowned slightly. He had nearly forgotten about that. He thought for a moment before grinning slightly when he realized that was wrong. “Course’ not. I’m coming over to just work on homework right? Your parents can’t kick me out for that. Plus I could always come back after they leave.” he replied. Tweek perked up. Had he been wrong? Could Craig actually still want to be friends?  _ He has to right? I mean, he wouldn't want to come over still, right? _ “You’re sure?” he wondered out loud. “Yeah” Craig smiled.

 

“Well, if you’re sure, ok then. But maybe we shouldn’t get off at the same stop? Might be suspicious..” Tweek bit his bottom lip. Craig had already anticipated Tweek would mention that and had a response ready. “Nah, we can get off on the same stop but head in different directions until the bus is out of sight. I can just pretend like I missed my stop and was getting off at yours to walk back from there.” Tweek nodded. It seemed alright, and reasonable.  _ Maybe we will be fine after all.. _ With his mind a bit more relaxed, he leaned back into Craig, still not feeling uncomfortable being so close to each other.

 

Craig looked down at the blonde and a small, content smile found its way onto his face. Craig was glad Tweek seemed alright now. He had gotten used to his outbursts of anxiety, but when he got really upset was something Craig felt less confident in handling it. The two boys sat huddled together for a few minutes. Craig had been looking around the classroom as well as down at Tweek who now almost seemed asleep in Craig’s lap. Craig smirked a bit, but turned to look up at the clock at the front of the room.  _ Damn. Only five minutes left already? Well, better make sure Tweek wakes up.  _ Craig felt a slight buzz come from his pocket.  _ Guess I’ll have to check it once Tweek’s awake. _

 

He looked down again at the sleeping boy.  _ He looks so peaceful.. Can’t we just stay here the rest of the day? _ He sighed knowing they’d have to leave soon. He tries to decide how best to wake Tweek. He starts by whispering his name quietly as to hopefully not startle him. “Tweek? Tweek, you awake?” Upon getting no response Craig pauses for a moment trying to figure out what to do next. It seemed Tweek was a heavier sleeper than he had anticipated.

 

Craig gently pokes Tweek in the side while whispering again. “Tweek?” This time Tweek twitches from the poke, but doesn’t wake. Craig pokes him again in hope he’ll wake up. Tweek twitches hard and responds with a noise that almost sounds like a squeak, but not exactly. It's a sound Craig has never heard before. Craig chuckles to himself. He isn't completely sure,  _ But I may have found a way to get back at you for teasing me earlier. _

 

A now mischievous grin has found its way onto Craig's face. Tweek opens his eyes and looks up at Craig. He sees Craig's expression and seems confused for a second. But after a second of thought his mind puts two and two together and the confusion turns into alarm. 

 

Tweek starts to try and get up. But Craig notices and quickly wraps one of his arms around the boy, trapping him. "Craig? What the hell!" Tweek tries to get up but it's no use. Not only is Craig taller than him, but also much stronger than him too. 

 

         Craig, still grinning responds playfully, "Nope! You're not leaving until I get you back from earlier. Can't believe I forgot how ticklish you are. Would have come in handy before now too," He pokes Tweek again, this time a bit less gentle. As he expected, Tweek pulled against him, but he wasn't letting go yet. He continued to poke and tickle Tweek, who was squirming in Craig’s grip. “F-fuck..off gah! Cr-Craig!” Tweek managed to get out through gasps and giggles.

 

While it certainly wasn’t the most fun thing in the world to him, Tweek was enjoying himself. He had been crying and panicking not too long ago, and now Craig had been able to get his mind off the troubling thoughts. The tickling went on for about a minute or so before Tweek involuntarily elbowed Craig in his side. This not only startled Craig, but slightly knocked the wind out of him as well. Craig’s grip around Tweek loosened as he gasped for air. Tweek took the opportunity to push open Craig’s arms and slide off the desk to safety.

 

Through gasps Craig was laughing to himself. Tweek turned around to look at the boy laughing at him. He frowned and sat on the desk in front of Craig with his back turned. Probably not the smartest choice considering what just happened, but Tweek wasn’t thinking like that then. He simply pouted facing away from the noirette behind him. 

 

Craig slowly caught his breath and calmed down his laughing. He noticed Tweek sitting in front of him and got up to go sit next to him. Tweek heard the movement behind him and felt himself tense up a bit. He also looked down at the floor, still pouting. He wasn’t seriously pouting, but pretending to. He wasn’t really mad at Craig for what he did, but was kind of embarrassed. He also hadn’t meant to elbow Craig that hard, and hope he didn’t really hurt him.

 

Craig pulls himself up onto the desk next to Tweek. He notices Tweek isn’t looking at him. So he takes the opportunity to check his phone. He opens his texts to see a message from Token. ‘I’m going 2 assume i’ll be bringing your stuff to history’ Craig simply sent him back a thumbs up emoji. Token could wait. Craig decides to break the silence. “Tweek?” “What?” he replied with fake annoyance.

 

Craig could pick up on the attitude all being an act and went along with it. “I’m sooorryy” Craig apologized fakely. Tweek looked over at him annoyed. “Alright, I really am sorry. I deserved that elbow to the ribs.” he said as he grabbed at the spot Tweek had hit. Tweek winced a bit at the last statement. He did feel guilty about hitting Craig even if he deserved it.  _ But I didn’t mean to hit him that hard.. _

Craig noticed Tweek’s change in expression and wanted to kick himself again.  _ I need to learn when to keep my damn mouth shut. _ “Sorry,” he apologized. “Forget I said that,” “No! I should be the one apologizing. I really didn’t mean to do it, at least not as hard as I did,” Craig shook his head “Tweek, no. I deserved it for being an ass.” Tweek chuckled at the word. _ God I’m such a child! _

“Well, class is about over. You ready to head back?” Craig asked as he slid off the table. “Yeah,” Tweek nodded. Craig held out his hand to help Tweek down. Despite the drop not really being large enough to need help down even though he was shorter. He grabbed Craig’s hand anyways. Craig helped him off the table. And with hands still locked, the two started walking towards the front of the room. About halfway there Tweek stops and tugs gently at Craig’s hand. Craig lets go and turns to see what happened.

 

Without a word Tweek walked to the back of the room towards the desk they sat on. He reached down and grabbed his bag before pulling it on and walking back to Craig. Craig chuckled but Tweek just kept walking to the door. Craig followed behind as Tweek opened the classroom door. Luckily the bell hadn’t rung yet so there were no kids in the halls. The two started walking in opposite directions to their next class, but not before waving bye to each other.  _ Hopefully the day will be over quickly. _

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I also wanted to make sure that you weren't left on as big of a cliff hanger before I left. I know I would really hate that :p hope you enjoyed though!


	10. Café Blues in Verdé Hues

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Craig works on homework while Tweek works on work.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I am so sorry for being gone for so long! This chapter was finished awhile ago which the title came from and the chapter itself was edited by the lovely CigarettesOnTheWindowSill. I feel really bad since I haven't written much since then, but this chapter has been done for awhile and I really wanted to share it. Hopefully I have more time and motivation to keep writing again soon, but for now, enjoy!

Class seemed to drag. Neither boy seemed to be paying too much attention to what was going on. Tweek was watching the clock for all his classes. He was so eager to leave. The stares and whispers hadn't stopped. He was doing his best to tune them out, but his twitching was just as bad as always. 

 

While it wasn't very like Tweek to not pay attention in class, Craig's teachers didn't even seem to notice the lack of enthusiasm. Tweek was really struggling. He tried to focus on his work and ignore the others around him. But it was much easier said than done. Luckily for the two, the day was mostly already over. 

 

When the final bell rang, they both rushed to their normal spot outside. The bus usually took a few minutes to get there. So there was a spot all five of the boys would wait. Usually it was the lockers near the front door. Tweek got there first. His last class of the day was right by the front door so of course nobody else was there when he arrived. Not even Jimmy, who was in the same class as Tweek. Tweek had just simply gone too fast for the poor boy with crutches. He even thought he had heard Jimmy yell for him as he dashed out of the room, “H-hey! W-wai- w- wait up Tweek!” He did feel guilty for running out on Jimmy like that, but he was just too eager to leave school. For once, he was actually looking forward to going to work.

 

Craig was usually the last one to arrive at their spot since his final class was nearly on the opposite end of the school. However, today, he had more motivation to get there earlier. He didn’t full out sprint or anything. He knew that would draw unwanted attention. He instead sped walked as quickly, but calmly as he could. Not only did he want to get to their spot quickly to speak with Tweek before the others got there. But also because he couldn’t stand to be in that class any longer. It was a study hall, and while usually he enjoyed the breather it gave him at the end of the day, today was an exception.

 

Tweek waited anxiously for Craig and the others to get there. Especially Jimmy and Craig. Jimmy for basically ditching him, and Craig because- “Hey Tweek!” a voice called out to him. “Huh?” Tweek turned around. He smiled when he realized it was just Craig.  _ At least I won’t have to face Jimmy alone  _ he thought. Craig walked up breathing a little heavy. Tweek watched him, amused. “What’s the big rush?” he teased. Craig was already a little red from rushing over, but could feel his face grow warmer at Tweek’s words. “Oh, I uh..” Craig’s voice trailed off.

 

Tweek knew he was making his friend uncomfortable, so he reassured him. “Hey, I was anxious to get here quickly too.” he said smiling. Craig smiled back at him when he heard the familiar sound of crutches against the tiled floor. “T-Tweek! What h-h h-happened back there? You l-le-lef l-left me in the d-dust!” Jimmy questioned. Tweek yet again felt guilty for leaving his poor friend behind. “Oh. Sorry Jimmy. I just.. I’m just kind of eager to get out of here..” “R-really? Usually y-yuh-you hate going to work.”Just as Tweek was about to respond, Token and Clyde walked up.

 

“Woah Craig, you beat us today?” Token asked confused. They all knew how far his class was since he showed up last everyday. “Yeah.. how’d you get here so fast?” Clyde wondered. Craig didn’t want to lie to his friends, especially since Tweek knew the truth. But he really didn’t want to be ambushed with more questions. “My teacher just let us go a little early is all.” He attempted to say nonchalantly. Token and Clyde looked at each other in silent acknowledgement that Craig was lying. However they decided to pretend to believe him. “Oh, alright then.” Token responded.

 

At this point, the boys headed out to the bus. It was finally time to go home and everyone felt relieved. It had certainly been an interesting day. They sat down in their usual spots. Craig and Tweek sitting together, while Clyde sat across from them, and Token and Jimmy in front of the other two. Tweek took the window seat quickly being the first of them on the bus. Tweek immediately began staring out the window. His mind couldn’t settle on what emotion to feel. 

 

He was anxious about the whole day, the weird situation in English, Butters knowing about what happened and as a result probably everyone else, what Craig was thinking, what his friends were thinking, what  _ everyone  _ was thinking. He was confused about different things that had happened throughout the day, especially some of Craig’s actions. He was tired, both mentally, and physically. As well as a bit disappointed in having to go to work. But for once he was actually glad to go to work as well. Craig would be there. Usually his friend’s couldn’t stay for very long, but since he was there to work on homework with Tweek, his parents most likely wouldn’t be as quick to kick him out. He decided his best course of action would be to stare out the window until they arrived at his stop. That way his friends hopefully wouldn’t try and talk to him that much if at all.

 

Craig had followed behind Tweek onto the bus, and sat down next to him. He was already staring out the window. Craig just sighed quietly as he pulled out his phone. Whenever Tweek got like this, it was usually better to just leave him be, and it had been a long day. They both felt it. So Craig just sat back and waited for the others to start and hopefully carry the conversation. And as he expected, they began talking as soon as they sat down. Clyde actually starting the conversation even before he sat down. 

 

He was eagerly chatting away about things that happened in class as well as talking yet again about how lucky he is to have Bebe in his life. The others all rolling their eyes. They were glad he was happy, but Clyde often had the problem of not knowing when to stop talking. Craig was patiently listening to everything the others were saying, and even cracked a smile or two at some funny things they said. But after a bit he returned his attention to Tweek, who had been silently staring out the window the whole time.

 

Craig frowned. Normally at this point Tweek would look up since his stop was coming soon.  _ At least I’m getting off with him today. He’d flip shit if he missed the stop. _ It had happened only once before. Tweek was paying more attention to the group and their antics on the bus that he wasn’t watching where they were. So when he realized he had missed the stop, he panicked, asked the bus driver to be let off, and sprinted towards the coffee shop. Tweek never missed his stop after that. 

 

As the stop approached, Craig gently nudged Tweek to try and get his attention. No response. He nudged again, a bit harder this time. That was apparently enough. Tweek flinched and faced Craig, not saying anything, but twitching a bit more than before. He had come back to reality. Craig winced a little at that. He always hated freaking him out. “Sorry Tweek, it’s just your stop is coming up and I was sure you wouldn’t want to miss it.” Craig said with a small smile. “Oh.” Tweek simply replied. He grabbed his backpack in anticipation. Craig turned to everyone else who had quieted down a bit. As the bus rolled slowly to a stop, Craig looked over at Tweek before nudging him again. “H-huh?” Tweek said, looking around confused. “Uh, we’re here?” Craig said with a goofy smirk on his face. Tweek’s clueless expression made him feel strange. Not bad, just, not something he could describe.

 

“Right..” Tweek said quietly. The two stood up together ready to get off. Typically Craig only stood up to let Tweek out before getting off at the next stop himself. But not today. “Bye guys,” Craig said with a wave, Tweek following closely behind. The group watched in silent confusion. Token finally breaks the silence after they leave the bus. “Uh.. what just happened..?” “Craig got off the bus with Tweek,” Clyde responded almost immediately. “Thanks for that Clyde, really helpful.” Token said annoyed. Jimmy had been looking out the window watching the two get off when he noticed they were going in opposite directions. “F-fellas, you might wanna c-ch-check this out,”

 

Clyde and Token joined him looking out the windows. “Wait, but why is Craig going  _ that  _ way? The coffee shop and his house are the way Tweek is going right?” Clyde asked confused. “Yeah. No idea what they’re up to..” Token agreed. “Today w-wuh-w w-was a strange d-day..” Jimmy added. The bus started heading back down the road and they saw Craig and Tweek continue to walk in opposite directions until they were too far to see them anymore. Once the bus was out of sight, Craig simply turned around and started walking towards the shop. He felt his phone go off but ignored it. He assumed it was his friends asking why he got off at the wrong stop and started walking away from his house. He just continued walking towards the coffee shop.

Meanwhile Tweek was speed walking as quickly as he could towards what he liked to think of as his “second hell”, only second to school. At least Craig would be here today.  _ Maybe work won’t be too bad..  _ He still kept his pace up though. The last thing he wanted to do was be late and risk Craig being sent away despite the homework they had to do. He wanted his parents in the best possible mood, or whatever you’d call it.  _ Honestly sometimes it feels like they just don’t have emotions.. Maybe that explains why I struggle with expressing myself.  _

 

He almost felt himself pick up his pace unconsciously. When he reached the coffee shop, he pushed the doors open and headed straight for the back room. His parents smiled at seeing him walk in the shop. He knew they did it even though he had never seen it. They seemed so sweet to not only himself, but also each other. But it was all an act. At home they rarely smiled, or showed any signs of kindness. At least when it was only the three of them. If they ever had guests they would put on their stupid fake personas. It drove Tweek crazy. He just couldn’t understand why they wouldn’t act like that all the time. They acted that way around others to appear like a normal and happy family. Sold more coffee. At least, that’s the way they saw it.  _ Of course they can’t actually just be normal and feel those fake emotions. _

 

__ Tweek felt himself getting upset and grabbed his hair while shaking his head.  _ I'm not gonna freaking cry! Craig will be here any second and he would freak out if I started crying seemingly for no reason.  _ He took a few deep breaths and released his hair. The feeling of crying was fading. He brought his hands in front of his face slowly and was surprised. He hadn't actually pulled any hair out this time. He sighed in relief upon realizing this. He had so much he already worried about, he didn't need to add worrying about going bald from ripping out his own hair to those worries. 

 

He took his bag off his back and walked over to the apron hanging on the wall. He struggled tying it on as always. When he finally tied it on, he swept up the back room quickly. He needed to get these few things done as fast as he could so his parents wouldn’t kick out Craig when he got there. 

 

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

 

As Craig pushed open the door to the warm shop, a small bell rang above his head. He hadn’t been here in awhile. He looked around for Tweek. When he couldn’t find him right away, he assumed he was busy in the back. It was surprisingly quiet. There was only one customer already sitting at a table quietly, sipping their coffee. He sighed and walked over to the counter to order. When he got there, he was greeted by Mr. Tweak. 

 

Craig had never really liked Tweek’s parents that much. Partially because they worked Tweek so hard and didn’t allow him much free time, and were also likely at least partially the reason behind his twitching and terrible anxiety. That and they just weirded him out. There was just something off about them. Tweek never really liked talking about his parents, often trying to change the subject. The boys never pressured him about it, but they were all still concerned nonetheless. 

 

“Why hello there Craig.” Mr. Tweak said with a smile.  _ That smile. That damned smile.. _ Craig’s face twisted into a pained smile. He could only poorly fake a smile back. He normally doesn’t smile much, but he doubted he could ever genuinely smile at either of Tweek’s parents. “Hi Mr. Tweak,” he replied through gritted teeth. “Now Craig, you know Tweek isn’t allowed visitors at work. He gets too distracted when his classmates are hanging around,” Craig’s fake smile melted into his resting face which to most people seems as though he’s pissed off at something. Craig just has a really bad case of RBF. 

 

“I know Mr. Tweak, it’s just that we have an assignment to work on together. We were assigned together, and we need to have it done by tomorrow. So I thought it might be a good idea for me to work on it here, and when Tweek is done with work we can finish together.” Craig explained. He knew it wasn’t the best or even most convincing explanation, but he was trying. Mr. Tweak thought about it for a moment, but before he could speak, Tweek came out of the backroom, and stepped behind the counter. He looked at the ground while walking over to his father, then looked up at him a bit confused before he turned to see Craig on the other side of the counter. Tweek’s face lit up seeing Craig there. Craig felt his face flush.  _ What the hell, me? What is wrong with you today? Uh, me? Wrong with me? What the hell.. _

 

Mr. Tweak turned to his son, “Tweek?” Tweek flinches hearing his name, closing an eye. “Y-yes sir?” “Craig here tells me you have an assignment to do together?” Tweek feels himself tense up. _Please let him stay.._ He replied quietly, “Uh.. y-yes.. W-we-” “Speak up son.” Mr. Tweak interrupts. Craig’s hands become fists under the counter. _Seriously, just let him freaking finish!_ _I so want to punch you in your fucking face.._

 

Tweek jumped a little when he was interrupted, but he took a deep breath and relaxed himself a little.  _ I need to do this. Come on, you got this! _ “Um, yes sir..” he replies a bit louder, but still with hesitation and even fear in his voice. Mr. Tweak’s expression didn’t change much, but it was enough for Tweek to understand that he hadn’t expected that answer. Tweek knew better than to lie to his parents. So Mr. Tweak appeared surprised that Craig was telling the truth. Though his expression didn’t change, when he realized this, Tweek felt himself get angry at his father.  _ He really thought Craig was making it up to see me or something didn’t he?  _

 

“Well then, I suppose it would be alright if Craig stayed here.” Both Tweek and Craig felt themselves perk up. “As long as Tweek doesn’t get too distracted and is able to attend to customers and finish all of his closing commitments.” He added. “Of course Mr. Tweak. Wouldn’t dream of it otherwise.” Craig replied simply. Tweek gave Craig a smile. A genuine smile. One he rarely ever wore, especially at work. Craig felt one of his own start stretching across his face. “I’d hate to bother you anymore, but I can’t stop by here without getting some hot chocolate if you wouldn’t mind?” Craig asked. “Of course not son! Tweek?” “Ah! Y-yes sir! One hot chocolate coming right up!” 

 

Tweek moved behind his father to get to the cups and machine. While he starts making Craig’s hot chocolate, Mr. Tweak is ringing him up on the register. “That’ll be-” “$2.35?” Craig cut him off holding out the total in cash. Mr. Tweak took the money, placing it carefully in the drawer. “Guess someone’s been here before,” he joked. It was said innocently, but Craig was sure he felt some venom in the delivery. He shook it off, but put a bit on edge by it. “Y-you can sit down Craig. I can bring it over to you.” Tweek said from behind the counter. “Alright,” 

Craig walked over to an empty table in the corner. He prefered tables like these when he went places in public. Especially when he went alone. By sitting in the corner, he not only avoided more people typically, but he could also observe things going on. He honestly liked to just sit and watch people. Especially Tweek when he was working. Tweek seemed very different when he was working. He also had fun little quirks that were amusing to watch. Craig could tell he was just about as anxious as he was in school while at work, but he was able to fake it enough that he seemed entirely calm to someone who doesn’t know him well. At least when dealing with customers or his parents. Doing things like cleaning, organizing, or any other task where he didn’t have to interact with people seemed to be much more relaxing for him.

 

Craig feels his phone buzz in his pocket and decides to check it. The newest message is one from his mom asking where he is. The others were from Clyde and Token asking him about what happened. Clyde had sent him about 10 or so messages in the span of a few minutes, while Token only sent one. Craig grinned looking over Clyde’s overdramatic messages. “What’s so funny?” a voice above him snaps him back to reality. “Jesus dude. You gave me a good scare Tweek,” he chuckled. “Oh! Sorry!” Tweek apologized quickly, gripping Craig’s cup of hot chocolate. “I was kidding dude, relax. But uh, could I have my hot chocolate before it becomes warm chocolate, or worse, cold chocolate.” he joked. “Oh, right, sorry,” Tweek replied awkwardly, handing the drink to Craig. 

 

He winced a little when he apologized again.  _ I’m sure he’s gonna tell me I don’t have to apologize again. I can’t help it though..  _ Craig set his phone down and started taking a sip of his drink when the bell above the door rang. When Craig brought the drink from his lips, and looked around, Tweek was gone. He was already back behind the counter taking the new customer’s order. He sighed and put the cup down on the table. “That was fucking delicious,” he said to himself. “Now, what was I doing again?” he looked down at his phone on the table and remembered.

 

He picks up his phone and starts to text his mom. ‘at tweak bros doing hw. want me to bring something home?’ He doesn’t get a response right away, so he opens his bag to start working on the homework.  _ Yes I want to just hang out with him, but he has work, and we actually have some work to do, so guess I should just get it over with. _ He pulls out the assignment, and a pencil.  _ We were pretty close to being done anyways, so I’ll just try to finish up asap.  _ Craig got to work, taking sips of his hot chocolate occasionally.

 

Meanwhile Tweek was getting to work himself. Luckily it wasn’t too busy, so he assumed closing would be easy tonight. They were efficiently working for awhile, maybe glancing at the other once in awhile. Eventually Mr. and Mrs. Tweak begin to pack up their things. “Is everything all set Tweek?” Mrs. Tweak asked her son. “Y-yes. I should be able to close no problem.” “Alright then, we’ll see you at home son.” Mr. Tweak replied. “Ok,” The two finish getting their things and head out the door. At this point, Craig and Tweek are now the only two in the store. “Wait what?” “Huh?” Tweek looked over at Craig curiously. "They seriously leave you to close the store by yourself?" Craig asked, getting frustrated. "Well, yeah. Didn't you know that..?" 

 

Even though he knew what Tweek's answer was before he said it, Craig was still surprised but also annoyed at Tweek's parents. "I knew you closed, but I thought your parents or at least one of them would do it with you. Do you even get a break?" Tweek hesitated for a moment before responding quietly. "No usually, no.." Craig felt like he had been punched in the stomach.  _ I knew his parents weren’t exactly the best parents, but I didn’t think they were this terrible.. _ Tweek noticed Craig’s change in expression, and felt like he had said something wrong. “I’m sorry. Are you alright? Did I say something wrong?” Craig responded immediately, “No! Of course not! Tweek, you did nothing wrong. It’s your parents who have done something wrong.” he said bitterly. Tweek was confused, and even a little anxious. “My parents..? What did my parents do..?” 

 

Craig seemed dumbfounded.  _ How could he think working this long without a break is normal? Honestly, there is probably so much more he isn’t telling us about them. And the fact he gets so anxious and uncomfortable whenever we talk about them isn’t good either.. _ ”Uh, how about not allowing you to have a break?” Craig raised an eyebrow hoping Tweek would realize himself how awful what he was saying actually was. “Oh? Is that it..? I mean, sometimes I do, but it’s usually just if I freak out about something. I just go into the back and come back when I’ve calmed down. But that’s only when they’re here since we always need someone on register and available to help customers.” Tweek started playing with his fingers nervously.  _ Is it really so wrong Craig? I’m just so used to it at this point I can work for that long or even longer usually without much problem.. _ Craig felt like every time Tweek added something else, it made the situation worse.

 

Craig started to respond again when a few customers walked in the door. Tweek rushed over to help them. Craig sat down just watching Tweek taking their orders. He shook his head in disbelief. He knew his parents had him work everyday, but he never knew how much he really worked, or that he didn’t even get a break most of the time!  _ I bet they don’t even care to check on him if he does take a “break” so he can calm down. I swear to god they better at least fucking pay him or something.. But I honestly wouldn’t be surprised if they didn’t.  _ He just continued to sit there watching Tweek work. He seemed a bit more on edge than earlier. Whenever they talked about his parents he would be a bit more anxious for a bit. So Craig assumed the conversation had made him a bit uncomfortable.

 

Lucky for them after getting their orders, the group of people left. Not before one of them dropped a $10 bill in the tip jar. Tweek was cleaning the machines he had just used and had his back turned to Craig. So he jumped a bit when Craig started talking to him right behind him. “That’s a pretty good tip,” “Agh! Jesus Craig! Don’t sneak up on me like that!” Tweek whined. Craig chuckled slightly. “Sorry,” he apologized, “But that’s still a nice tip they gave you,” he continued. “I guess so..” Tweek replied. Craig was confused again, but felt his stomach drop in anticipation for what he assumed was coming. “What do you mean ‘you guess so’?”

 

Tweek paused for a second. He could tell Craig was already upset at what he had said earlier, and didn’t want to say anything else to make it worse. “Never mind, you’re right, it is a pretty generous tip. Those people were pretty nice. A few are regulars.” He said trying to change the subject. Craig was frustrated. Tweek would often do this. Simply say “never mind” and shut down about whatever it was they were talking about. If you continued to press, he would either remove himself if possible, or even ignore your questions, or just stop talking altogether until you decided to talk about something else. Craig didn’t want Tweek to ignore him, but he had nowhere to run. So he had a better chance of getting an answer out of him.

 

“Tweek..” his tone of voice calm, yet firm. Tweek flinched at his name. He knew what Craig was going to do.  _ I just don’t want to upset you more! Why do you insist on asking if you just get upset?? I don’t understand! _ “Y-yeah..?” he responded nervously. “I know you don’t want to talk about it, but what did you mean by what you said? I’m not upset with you or anything, ok? I just want to know.” Craig said calmly. Tweek hesitated. He believed Craig, but he didn’t want to make him upset at all, even if Craig wasn’t upset with him specifically. “If you really must know, I don’t get tips ok?" He huffed. "Well, I just don't keep them I guess." He added when he saw Craig looking at him confused. “Wait a minute.. You’re telling me they don’t let you keep your own tips? They must at least pay you or something right?” Tweek perked up. Finally something he could reassure Craig with that things weren’t as bad as he thought. 

 

“Of course they pay me! I just don’t keep tips is all. They go to improving things around the shop, you know? Like fixing things that need it.” Tweek responded. Craig still seemed a bit concerned over the conversation, but decided pushing any farther wasn’t going to help. He mumbled, “I still think they overwork you, and you should be able to keep your tips. But at least they’re paying you  _ I guess. _ ”  _ Not that it makes up for everything else..  _ Tweek sighed in relief. Luckily a customer walking in allows Craig to sit down, and the awkward conversation to end. Craig watched quietly, still in disbelief. Tweek seemed a bit uncomfortable, so he decided against asking about it further.

 

_ I just can’t believe I never knew about this before.. And he seems to think this is totally normal, which is even more fucked. His parents are seriously the worst. Not that I didn’t already know that. _ Tweek finished with the customer’s order, and started cleaning up behind the counter. The other customer had sat down. Craig watched Tweek who had his back turned to Craig. He was trying to get his attention.  _ I get it that you’re busy Tweek, but I’m not doing this whole damn thing by myself.. _

 

Tweek felt like he was being watched. He was pretty sure he knew by who though. He didn’t want to turn around though. If he did, Craig would likely ask him to go over there, and probably talk about the earlier discussion.  _ I don’t want you to get mad or upset again.. I don’t understand why it’s such a big deal.. _ Tweek grabbed the broom sitting in the corner behind the counter and began sweeping up the floor, keeping his head down to avoid making eye contact. 

 

Craig noticed what Tweek was doing and felt annoyed. He couldn’t really go behind the counter or anything with another customer in the store. He looked over at them. It was a kid that went to school with them. He was relatively tall, with black hair similar to his own.  _ What’s his name again? _ Craig couldn’t remember his name, but knew exactly who it was. He had the most piercing eyes; eyes that you just couldn’t forget. Sometimes people even joked they were twins. He was quietly sipping his coffee, reading a book. Craig found himself nearly staring at the boy from across the shop. He never looked up though. 

 

He turned his attention back to Tweek, who was still ignoring him. He crossed his arms in annoyance.  _ Once this kid leaves Tweek, you’re getting your ass over here so we can finish this _ . Craig looked back down and realized he still hasn't finished his hot chocolate. He took a small sip before putting it back down in disgust. It was cold chocolate now.  _ This isn't how I thought this would go.. _ He stands up to go throw away the now cold chocolate. Tweek sees him out of the corner of his eye and tenses up, still looking down. He didn’t want to feel awkward or uncomfortable around his, really only, best friend, but he couldn’t help it. 

 

As he approached the trash can, Tweek finally looked up at him. The two made eye contact as Craig threw the cup into the trash. The two stood in silence for a moment. “Uh hi,” Tweek said uncertainly, playing with his fingers nervously. “Yeah, hi.” Craig replied. “So, I know you’re busy with work and all, but any idea when you’ll be able to help with the homework? The reason why I came?” he asked annoyed. Tweek felt guilty and hurt by Craig’s words.  _ I didn’t forget about homework! I just thought you were mad at me, and I didn’t want to make it worse. But I guess I was right and fucked up again! Now you’re even more mad!! _

 

“I’m sorry! I didn’t mean to- I mean, I’m sorry. I can work on it now while I don’t have any customers..” he apologized. The commotion drew the attention of the boy in the corner. He didn’t say anything, but was watching the two curiously. Tweek went into the back to grab his backpack and to calm down a bit. His twitching was starting to get bad, and he felt the urge to grab his hair. He grabbed at his apron instead. He took a few deep breaths to try and calm his twitching down. It worked a little, but it was still noticeably worse than normal. He reached into his bag and found the assignment and a pencil.  _ Hopefully nobody walked in while I was back here.. I’m sorry Craig.. I didn’t mean to annoy you.. _

 

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

 

Craig walked back over to his table and sat down in a huff.  _ So I show concern and get ignored.. I was just freaking trying to help. And now I just nearly yelled at him. God damnit I can't decide if today has been shit or not.  _ He looked over at the other boy sitting across the coffee shop from him. He seemed to be staring at Craig. “What?” Craig snapped. “What was that?” he asked. Craig was annoyed and confused “What do you mean what was that?” The other boy rolled his eyes, “Uh, what just happened between you and Tweek. What else did you think I was talking about?” Craig was annoyed.  _ I dunno who the hell you think you are, but fuck off. _ “None of your damn business” he replied coldly, standing quickly. “Alright alright. I get it.” he said holding up his hands as if saying “woah”. The mysterious boy then stood to leave. But before he reached the door he looked back over his shoulder, “I’d be more careful about what you say, especially to  _ him.”  _ He said as he motioned towards the door. “You never know when you might not get the chance to take it back.” Craig stood in silent confusion as the boy left the shop. 

 

“The  _ fuck _ is going on today?” he muttered to himself. He was just standing there staring at the door when Tweek emerged from the back room. Tweek looked at Craig, then around the shop, confused at what just happened. Craig hadn’t even acknowledged Tweek since he had left the back room. Tweek couldn’t stand the silence any longer. “Uh.. Craig..?” Craig finally looked over to see Tweek watching him with a concerned look on his face.

 

“Oh, sorry..” he apologized quickly, sitting back down in his seat. Tweek walked over to his table, but made sure to keep some space between the two. “So, uh.. What happened?” Tweek wondered. Craig paused a moment before responding. “Who is that kid?” “Oh, the one who I just got coffee for?” “Yeah.. him..” Craig said still staring at the door. Tweek watched his gaze in confusion. “Well, he’s a student in our class, but I can’t remember his name for the life of me..” Craig didn’t respond. Tweek was becoming uneasy with what was going on.

 

“W-well, what about him? Did he leave?” he questioned. “Well yeah he left. I dunno. He was staring at me when you went in the back. He just kinda weirded me out a bit.”  _ No sense in telling you what he said, I can’t even wrap my head around it, and you’re already stressed out. Maybe once I figure it out. _ Tweek frowned.  _ Clearly that’s not everything that happened. You don’t get freaked out by people staring at you. But I guess it won’t do any good to ask right now. I just need to focus on fixing what happened earlier. _

 

“Ok, well, maybe finishing the homework will help you get your mind off it then?” Tweek said with a weak smile. Craig finally turned to face him. Seeing the smile on Tweek’s face, Craig couldn’t help but smile back. “Hopefully. Let’s get this shit done.”

 

The two work quickly, cracking jokes and talking about any random thing that comes to mind. Eventually, with homework done, they are just chatting and laughing. Luckily no customers come in during the rest of his shift. Before long it’s time for Tweek to finish closing. Craig packs up their things as Tweek finishes his last closing tasks. It’s almost 9:30.  _ How did it get so late so fast?  _ Tweek walks out of the back room, locking it. He turns around to see Craig holding his things. The two exchange small smiles as Tweek takes his bag from Craig. 

 

As Tweek is putting on his bag however, Craig looks at him curiously. "W-what? Is there something wrong?" He wondered anxiously. Craig shrugged. “I mean not necessarily, I just didn't know you wore that thing home." He said pointing to the apron Tweek was still wearing. "Oh. Oops.." Tweek felt himself start to blush. He began taking off his bag when he remembered how he struggled with taking it off. He put his bag down and started walking towards the back. "It goes back here, so I'll just-" he manages to get out as he accidentally drops his keys. 

 

Craig leans down to pick them up. "No big deal. You can take it off while I unlock the door." He says as he starts looking through the keys. "Ok.."  _ Ugh! I'm gonna embarrass myself! Why do I struggle with freaking basic things!  _ He reaches behind himself, turning around so he was no longer facing Craig, as he frantically tried to untie the apron as quickly as he could. He always made sure to tie it very tight so he wouldn’t have to re-tie it during a shift. But now he was struggling to untie it, and wishing he hadn’t tied it as tight, or at least that his arms were just a little bit longer. Just as he feels the knot in his hand, he hears a click behind him. “There! You got too many keys man.” Craig joked as he turned around. 

 

_ Shit! Now he’s gonna laugh at me! _ Tweek turned around quickly. His face was bright red from embarrassment and his struggle to get the apron off. Craig looked at him confused.  _ Did he just stand there watching me open the door, or.. _ “You alright dude?” Craig asked a bit concerned about why he was so red. “Y-yep! T-thanks for opening the door! I’ll just-” “Tweek.” Craig interrupted. 

 

_ Fuck!  _ “Yeah..?” he answered nervously. “Do you need help taking that thing off?” Craig said calmly. Tweek felt incredibly embarrassed and defeated. “Y-yes..” Craig gave him a warm smile as Tweek turned around.  _ God, I can’t do anything! He probably thinks I’m such an incapable loser who can’t do anything for myself! _ “Jesus dude. You tied this thing tight. I don’t even think I could get this thing off of myself.” Craig’s words made Tweek relax a little, but he was still incredibly embarrassed. The two stood there for about a minute while Craig struggled to untie the apron.  _ How does he do this himself every night? This knot is almost impossible for me to untie while I can see it and easily reach it. _

 

Finally, Craig is able to untie the knot. Tweek turns around as he reaches behind him to take it off. “Thank you.” he said sheepishly. “No problem. Maybe you should try tying it a bit looser next time?” Craig teased. “Right..” Tweek replied. With his head down in defeat, Tweek walked into the back and hung the apron back up on its hook. As he walked back out, Craig locked the door behind him. Tweek picked up his bag and put it on as Craig handed him back his keys. The two walked to the front of the shop where Tweek turned off the lights. They then walked out the front door, which Tweek promptly locked. 

 

Craig looked over to the parking lot and saw his mother’s car sitting there. He checked his phone and realized there were missed calls and plenty of texts.  _ Shit. Well, at least we don’t have to walk, it’s freezing. _ He looked over to see Tweek already walking away. He started after him. “Tweek! Where the hell are you going?” Craig called after him. Tweek stopped, allowing Craig to catch up. “Home,” he stated simply. “Aren’t your parents going to come pick you up?” Craig asked, a concerned look on his face. “No, they’re most likely asleep already. They have to get up pretty early.” Craig frowned.  _ The more he says about them, the more I hate them.. _ “Well, my mom’s here, I’m sure she wouldn’t mind giving you a ride. I mean, you’re on the way so it’s not much of a big deal.” he offered. 

 

Tweek hesitated. He definitely would prefer a warm car ride home instead of walking. But he thought it would be better to just walk home alone.  _ Today has already been weird enough.. I just want to get home and have things feel somewhat normal again.. _ “It’s alright Craig. I think I’ll just walk. Thank you though.” he said as he turned away and started walking again. Craig tried to go after him, but his mother pulled up next to him. She rolled down the window. “Get your ass in here! It’s freezing!” she yelled. As she rolled the window back up, Craig looked down the road. He could no longer see Tweek somehow.  _ Damn he walks fast.. _ He sighed as he opened the door. As soon as the door was shut his mother started yelling at him about not answering his phone and how worried she had been. He tuned it all out and watched the road. He didn’t see Tweek anywhere.  _ I just hope he makes it home ok..  _

  
Tweek had quickly hidden behind a nearby building when Craig’s mother had pulled up. While he appreciated the offer, he just wanted to go home and be alone for a bit. Once he saw the car go out of sight he began walking home.  _ Hopefully tomorrow won’t be as weird.. _


End file.
